US corporation's chief flies in, tells Abhisit he has no plans to sue and will talk about 'fair compensation'

THE NATION

The chairman of technology company GTech, Donald Sweitzer, met with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday to discuss the government's cancellation of the online lottery.

Sweitzer, whose company is part of a joing venture (JV) with local group Loxley, which was contracted to run the online lottery, flew in from the US on Wednesday.
After a 20-minute meeting with the prime minister, Sweitzer said the cancellation of the lottery was a great disappointment.
"But we respect the wishes of the government," he said. "The government has asked that we work with them to devise a fair and equitable resolution of the matter, and we have agreed to do that."

He said he was encouraged the government had signalled its intention to honour the contract it signed with Loxley GTech Technology (LGT) and recognised the investment the JV had made to fulfil its contractual obligations.

"The government's cancellation of the project will cause LGT to experience significant damages, for which LGT is entitled to compensation," he said. "As chairman of GTech, I have made it clear to the government that we have an obligation to protect our interests. We will actively participate in any negotiations intent on concluding this matter to the satisfaction of the parties involved."
Meanwhile, the Government Lottery Office (GLO) yesterday said it was willing to adjust the vending machines supplied for the cancelled online two-and three-digit lottery to sell tickets for the six-digit lottery instead.

Somchat Wongwattanasan, an assistant to GLO director, said such a change was very possible, because most of the online lottery sellers were those who already sold tickets for the GLO lottery or whose shop was authorised to sell them.
However, a Finance Ministry source said the online-lottery vending machines' software could not be so adapted, because the Government Lottery Office Act of 1974 stipulated lottery tickets had to be printed by the GLO's printing house.
LGT chief Trichakr Tansuphasiri said the lottery vending machines could be adapted to other games and that the company was a contractor for the GLO, so it was up to the GLO todecide what they wanted to use the machines for.
"Our company underwent the bidding process and hoped to proceed in accordance with the contract," he said. "Afterward, the government changed its policy. But since we are Thai compatriots, it should be negotiable. The company invested Bt3 billion in this; if they wanted to compensate at only Bt400 million, that would not be right. Any changes they wish to make we must talk about in detail."
Commenting on his official website, the prime minister said there would be several opportunities to discuss the matter.

He said he had maintained his stance and policy since he was in the opposition: he disagreed with the online lottery and did not believe it would solve the problem of the under-ground lottery.
Mondy earned from the online lottery would not have been worth the consequential social problems, Abhisit said.
This is especially so because the online lottery would have indicated that "certain gambling was legal", and more and more people would have been tempted to gamble, especially youths.

"I did not mean [when I spoke about this issue earlier] we would use tax money to pay compensation [to LGT'.
"A committee has been set up to look for alternatives in negotiation. I believe we'll find a solution with the least negativity," Abhisit said.
"I think it's time for society to decide, and the government has sent a clear signal about what we think society should aim for, the premier added."
Kiat Sithi-amorn, president of the Thailand Trade Representative Office and head of the inquiry into terminating the online-lottery concession, confirmed the visiting GTech chairman said his firm had no intention of suing the government and under-stood the reasons for scrapping the online lottery.

Kiat said his panel had invited the firm's representatives to give information next week and planned to summon the affected lottery vendors.
He said the panel should be able to give a proposal to the prime minister within two weeks.

"We respect the wishes of the government...It has asked that we work with them to devise a fair and equitable resolution of the matter, and we have agreed to do that."

DONALD SWEITZER
CHAIRMAN, GTECH CORP