Jaral Phakdeethanakul said Thursday that the jackpot was a social vice, luring a lot of poor peo¬ple to be addicted to gambling instead of paying attention to work.

"The jackpot leads people astray. It has always been promoted as the nation's benefit provider, although it is actually a vice and no one organisation takes responsibility for it," he said.

The two and three-digit lottery began three years ago as the brainchild of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Its huge jackpot has helped to promote the sale of tickets.

Thaksin claimed the government could bring in the money poor people would give to under¬ground lottery bosses anyway and use the cash to help the poor.

But critics said Thaksin had abused the money by using it to shore up his popularity among the poor.

The Nation