As the ticket purchases were sold at the same time nationwide, it was reported that the February 1-round tickets were sold out within minutes after the system opened at 8am.

Many disgruntled retail vendors called for the authorities to cancel this ticket reservation via ATMs and implement other ways that give them a better access to tickets at a cheaper rate so they can make some money for their families.

In Phitsanulok’s Muang district, many vendors camped in front of ATMs overnight and small scuffles erupted among those waiting in long queues to buy tickets early yesterday.

Bursting into tears when told the tickets were sold, vendor Supichaya Larpbumrung, 43, who was in the fqueue to an ATM atBuddhachinaraj Hospital asked, “How am I going to feed my children now?”

Supichaya, who had been selling lottery tickets for over a decade, said she had been in queues to buy them many times before but got tickets only on three occasions so the rest of time she bought tickets from middlemen at Bt78 apiece – meaning only Bt2 profit. She urged the government to solve the ticket selling system or the retail vendors would continue to suffer. Another vendor at Khok Matoom Market suggested the government to provide a quota for retail vendors, to buy up to five books of ticket so they don’t need to fight via the online system. He said the vendors could receive the entitled books from a bank, which they are registered with and have money in.

Similar scenes were seen in Ayutthaya, Udon Thani, and other provinces.

Sixty-year-old vendor Banleu Saephu brought his family to sleep in front of an ATM in Ayutthaya’s Muang Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district at 5pm on Monday to get the first queue when the system opened. He got five books, a process that took 15-20 minutes so only a few people in the line after him got tickets.

A 40-year-old man who waited in a queue said he bought the tickets to resell them to other vendors at Bt7,600 per book – meaning Bt5.6 profit per ticket. In Loei province known as biggest source of lottery vendors, as many as 50 people queued up to one ATM while soldiers and police stood by to ensure order around the machines.

A sign was posed on all ATMs saying, “to ensure justice, one person is entitled to one shot using one card to buy the tickets”.

That method was also used in Roi Et. Many said they wanted the more-convenient model employed by Loei’s Muang district community hall, which sold ticket books to 2,050 registered vendors.