The problem of overpriced lottery tickets was one of first to be tackled by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) immediately after its takeover of the national administration on May 22. Other problems included overcharging by motorcycle taxis, illegal parking by passenger vans, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, and encroachment on forest reserves, public beaches and footpaths.
Since the age-old lottery problem is closely associated with millions of Thais, the NCPO's promise to tackle it as a top priority was widely hailed. Many sceptics, however, doubted the military junta would do better than previous civilian governments despite its absolute executive, legislative and judicial powers.
To tackle the overpricing problem, new rules were established. The lottery quota was re-allocated, with 45 million tickets per draw distributed to small retailers who were required to register with the Government Lottery Office (GLO). Regrettably though, the big wholesalers who monopolise the lottery quota were left untouched.
The initial result was impressive. Retail prices of lottery tickets, which were usually set at 100 baht or higher for tickets with "beautiful" numbers, went down to 90 baht, or a bit higher depending on how "beautiful" the numbers were. Several retailers who sold overpriced lottery tickets were arrested by the police.
But the feel-good atmosphere was short-lived. After a few draws, lottery prices started to climb and returned to the pre-coup level. Unsurprisingly, there have been scant complaints from consumers who appear to accept that this is a fact of life.
Not even the NCPO wants to mention it again. It was a non-issue until last week when Somchai Satjapong, director-general of the Customs Department and board chairman of the GLO, admitted that attempts to control lottery prices had failed despite the junta's full support.
He pointed out that retailers were reluctant to sell the tickets at the prices set by the NCPO because they have to bear the cost of many "unwanted" tickets and, therefore, they have to charge more to cover the costs.
He indicated that an online lottery might have to be introduced to solve the overpriced lottery problem.
An online lottery might help to resolve the problem as it cuts out all the middlemen and offers direct sale of lottery tickets to end buyers. But for the system to be introduced is easier said than done as the GLO will have to deal with many vendors who may resist the scheme.
Also, the GLO itself will have to accept the fact that its revenue will shrink as the scheme will do away with the quota system under which all tickets for each draw are sold and the GLO does not take any risk at all for unsold tickets.
Mr Somchai's candid admission of the failure of the attempts to control lottery prices is admirable. But it will be appreciated if he offers more information about what really caused the failure of attempts to control the system. Is it because the approach was wrong from the start when all of the big wholesalers were left untouched? Or because people in the GLO dragged their feet and wanted to maintain the status quo?
Overpriced lottery tickets are not a complicated issue as it involves just a handful of key players or the big wholesalers, and yet it cannot be resolved and the GLO board chairman has decided to throw in the towel.
But public doubts will not be targeted at the GLO or the government but at the NCPO, particularly Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha who is both the prime minster and NCPO chief.
The big question is, if the NCPO cannot resolve an uncomplicated problem like overpriced lottery tickets, how can the public have trust and confidence in the NCPO in its ability to deal with more complex and complicated problems such as corruption and political conflicts?
Aside from the overpriced lottery fiasco, the rice-pledging scheme poses a real test of the NCPO's resolve to weed out corruption. If officials at the Public Warehouse Organisation and the Marketing Organisation for Farmers still fail to update rice inventories so that the final accounting of rice stockpiles cannot be concluded, the NCPO risks losing its credibility.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.