VietNamNet Bridge – The Southern Lottery Council has written to the Ministry of Finance accusing Vietnam Lottery Company (Vietlott), the organizer of American-style lottery game Mega 6/45, of wrongdoing, according to local media.

The council petitioned the ministry to deal with Vietlott’s alleged irregularities to make sure the firm competes fairly with 21 lottery companies in the country’s south.

The council claimed lottery agents in HCMC print tickets for distribution in southern provinces where Vietlott has no agents. This has caused revenue losses for provincial budgets and violated articles 12 and 13 of the ministry’s Circular 1 dated January 2, 2014.

Moreover, selling print tickets does not reflect the nature of the American-style lottery game that allows buyers to select numbers as wished.

This is against articles 2, 9 and 10 of the ministry’s circular 136 dated October 3, 2013.

Vendors sell print tickets at prices higher than VND10,000 each at agents, affecting fair competition.

Vietlott lottery tickets are retailed at VND12,000 each, VND2,000 higher than its face value. The council said this is in violation of Article 37 of the Government’s Decree 98 issued on August 28, 2013 on lottery ticket distribution.

In addition, the advertising and promotion of the product are unclear in terms of content, according to the council.

Notably, Vietlott said the computerized lottery game would replace the traditional one in the coming time and that the traditional lottery game would be put under review with tickets to be issued once or twice a week. The council denounced this information from Vietlott.

Nguyen Hoang Duong, deputy head of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions under the Ministry of Finance, has told Vietlott to check and make sure its operations and those of its agents are in line with the prevailing regulations.

In a document sent to the Southern Lottery Council, Vietlott general director Tong Quoc Truong said his firm had told its agents to strictly observe regulations on the computerized lottery game.

A leader of a lottery firm in the Mekong Delta said sales of traditional lottery tickets have declined as Vietlott tickets can be found almost everywhere though its operations are now in a couple of southern cities and provinces.        

SGT