Bluedragon cleared of wrongdoing

The Criminal Court yesterday cleared online lottery platform, Bluedragon Lottery Co, of violating the Government Lottery Act and inflating the price of tickets.

The court ruled that the company did not distort the market price for state lottery tickets, as claimed by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, because it only acted as a middleman which connects lottery ticket vendors to buyers.

The DES Ministry filed a lawsuit with the court to have the company’s three websites taken offline, after it claimed the platform was selling overpriced lottery tickets online.

The suit was filed last month, after the DES Ministry and the police moved to arrest Pachara Messiyaporn, 31, a top executive of Bluedragon Lottery Co.

They pressed four charges against him, which were selling overpriced tickets, fraud, violating the Computer Crime Act, operating an unregistered direct sales business and placing advertisements with false or exaggerated content.

In addition, the DES Ministry said Bluedragon Lottery Co covered the Government Lottery Office’s (GLO) barcode on the tickets with its logo to deceive consumers.

After his arrest, Mr Pachara insisted the company did not violate any law, saying he was prepared to fight all of the charges.

While Mr Pachara’s lawyer, Anantachai Chaidej admitted that the company did cover up the GLO’s barcode, it never sold overpriced tickets nor exploited market pricing mechanisms through its platform.

He said the court had no reason to shut down Bluedragon’s websites, as the company did not violate the Government Lottery Act and the Gambling Act. Furthermore, he added, as the company never defamed the GLO, the company did not violate the Computer Crime Act either.

“Vendors and buyers are the ones with the capacity to manipulate market prices. Bluedragon Co is only the middleman,” said Mr Anantachai.

Bluedragon’s legal team is preparing to sue the Royal Thai Police, the GLO and DES Ministry for causing damage to the company’s business and causing trouble for countless licensed vendors.