Lottery Doesn't Lure People To Gambling: Lao Finance Official

[Coss]

Just in case you though it was only the Thais I enjoy slagging...

________________

 

The offering of online football wagering will not encourage more local people to become gambling addicts, a senior Lao government official has stated.

 

Deputy Minister of Finance Mr Sila Viengkeo made the comment yesterday while responding to a question raised by a villager from Dongdok village in Vientiane's Xaythany district through the National Assembly hotline.

 

The villager said the legal online football service has caused great harms to students who lost their money which also led to social ills.

 

Mr Sila said the online football wagering launched six months ago by the Lao Development Lottery State Enterprise has been approved by the Ministry of Finance.

 

He cited that the ministry approved this project after discovering that illegal football wagering was widespread in major towns in Laos and the football wagering aims to create options for people to spend some of their money for lucky draws and relaxed wagering instead of risking their cash with illegal activities.

 

Mr Sila said that the online football service will also generate revenue for the government.

 

“I dismiss the claim raised by the villager. I don't think that the online football wagering will encourage more people to gamble as our ministry has regulated their business operation,†he said.

 

He explained that the Lao Development Lottery State Enterprise has been told to sell not more than 1 million kip per person per day and the punters need to be 18 years of age or older.

 

“The online football wagering is a pilot project and we will review the effectiveness of the project for the 2015-16 fiscal year. If the project results are negative we may order it to shut down, but if it proves positive we may further approve it to expand,†he said.

 

Lao Development Lottery State Enterprise also announced the football lottery service has given the opportunity for gamblers to legally forecast and bet on winners of football matches.

 

Football matches of all the famous leagues across the globe were includ ed in the new online gambling system. During the world cup, the punters in Laos moved to use the online gambling system.

 

Gamblers are required to set up an online account with the enterprise to enable them to perform online gambling.

 

Those winning a bet will receive money through the account, while losers will have their available balance decreased after paying online.

 

Mr Sila said Laos earns more than 60 billion kip annually through the lottery profit tax. The revenue generated from the lottery is a lot but he did not have the exact figure with him.

 

The Lao Development Lottery State Enterprise has branches in Vientiane and the provinces to offer the lottery service for punters.

 

However members of the public are very concerned that more products and more dates of issuing lottery could cause greater damage to young people.

 

They also urged relevant authorities to ensure a transparent process of issuing the lottery which should be broadcast live on Lao TV.

 

http://www.vientianetimes.org.la

 

Mr Sila Viengkeo, a very rich man...

[YimSiam]

I love the Lao, the Lao country, the people, even the government - but I cannot put much faith in their capacity for reliable analysis. Something about 40 years of deep Socialist logic leaves a reason deficit not likely to be quickly overcome...

[Flashermac]

You love the government? You mean the same one that attacked students protesting for democracy not so many years ago?

[Coss]

" but I cannot put much faith in their capacity for reliable analysis."

or any analysis in my opinion.

 

I love Laos, but that's coloured very strongly with an understanding that education, democracy, human rights, all that sort of stuff, does not apply.

 

If your head is below the radar, the people are warm, loving, simple, generous and fair. As soon as you raise your nose, to sniff the money stream, that flows strongly through the government and military et al, you start to play with the most corrupt, scum sucking bastards there are on the planet.

 

It's a tribute to the village mode of society that most Lao are beautiful people.

[YimSiam]

 

If your head is below the radar, the people are warm, loving, simple, generous and fair. As soon as you raise your nose, to sniff the money stream, that flows strongly through the government and military et al, you start to play with the most corrupt, scum sucking bastards there are on the planet.

 

 

Yeah, that's true - the Chinese are always lurking just around the next corner...

 

I suppose I mean I love their frequent uselessness, some of the charming incompetence, which I came to know about 15 years ago, working briefly in the north. But also had a friend 'disappeared' in the classic sense, most likely due to a conflict between plantation business, Chinese interests, and ostensibly govt-supported conservation efforts. So, I've seen the dark side - don't mean to be unconditional in my love - for anyone, ever... except Mom.

[Coss]

Yeah, that's true - the Chinese are always lurking just around the next corner...

I suppose I mean I love their frequent uselessness, some of the charming incompetence, which I came to know about 15 years ago, working briefly in the north. But also had a friend 'disappeared' in the classic sense, most likely due to a conflict between plantation business, Chinese interests, and ostensibly govt-supported conservation efforts. So, I've seen the dark side - don't mean to be unconditional in my love - for anyone, ever... except Mom.

 

I may have heard of whom you speak, your friend I mean. Luang Namtha or thereabouts ?

 

You are right about the Chinese also. And "frequent uselessness, some of the charming incompetence" is entertaining and endearing.

 

A friend on this board, introduced me to, and we had lunch with, a chap who has similarly vanished.

 

So as I say, I keep my head below the radar, and I've been tested on many occasions. Usually when drinking with folk from various govt depts, my political opinions are sought, and needless to say, I always support the efforts of the Govt in whatever subject is raised. The vanished, are never mentioned.

 

I married a lass, with some high powered cousins, this may have not hindered my marriage paperwork, but I've not seen any influence for me or my immediate family. It would be easy to assume that all is well. But then I wouldn't have a brain.

[YimSiam]

I may have heard of whom you speak, your friend I mean. Luang Namtha or thereabouts ?

 

 

Exactly thereabouts. Sad story - sweet young wife left alone, the issue got a little press attention at the time but not much, and I haven't heard anything for ages. Just - done.

 

I've also had a lot of interactions with elements of the Hmong community - the Hmong can be enough to drive anyone insane, but some of the treatment they've faced has been brutal - all that charm and uselessness suddenly falls by the wayside, and you've got fully effective brutal nastiness. In the case of the Hmong, perhaps the Vietnamese are more relevant than the Chinese in those problems, but in the hands of the right puppeteers, things can get very ugly with the Lao...

[Coss]

Therein the utility of flying below the radar.

 

Without delving too much into the specifics, there is room for change there, but as with most large shifts, it'll take a generation.

 

There seem to be three strains of people, the "old school" who set it all up, the "middle" who want it all, but have no historical authority, and the "new" who've been educated abroad. These are also distributed in some random way across three power bases, being Military, Police and Political.

 

The mix is volatile, but except for occasional vanishings and transport accidents, even 'sudden onset illness', the whole kit and caboodle seems to be moving in the right direction, slowly. Just my opinion.

[YimSiam]

I've only been back for a short visit last year, to the south - I was struck by the risk that the new rich (the Chinese, their pawns and proxies, etc) are able to take advantage of this moving-but-slow process, and gobble up whatever Laos has available. Not as ugly as the privatization after the fall of USSR, but something along those lines - there's a coffee mogul down around Pakse, seemed to be putting himself forward as new royalty, economic royalty - and the Chinese up north with the plantations, etc. I'm sure the Thais have their bits and actors as well.

 

But still - what lovely people - what a great transition to fly out of Bangkok and soon find yourself at one of the provincial airports in Laos, checking yourself through immigration in dusty silence, except for the computers - that may or may not be working - a sudden jump 30 years or more back in time.

[Coss]

The coffee, there's apparently only two export licenses allowed for coffee, patronage and nepotism rules