GAMBLING
SMS raffles another form of gambling
By The Nation
Published on May 27, 2011
Luckydraw text messages are another form of gambling, because they force people to spend even though 90 per cent of the punters never win a prize, an academic revealed yesterday.
Television shows and cellphone operators are estimated to earn Bt15 billion in profits per year, which also goes unchecked by the authorities.
At a seminar held by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation yesterday, researcher Juthamas Suksai said that TV shows required viewers to send an SMS, which cost between Bt3 and Bt6 per message, to answer a question or express an opinion to win a prize. This encourages people, especially the youth, to spend unnecessarily and get addicted to gambling. Many of the hosts also do not notify consumers that they are paying for both sending and receiving messages, she said.
Therefore, she urged the authorities to control the content and age of participants, air a warning message, have the operators apply for a legal permit and ensure that they are not violating people's rights or the gambling law.
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