Taiwan Lottery Co (
The company agreed to provide each of its 4,350 ticket-selling agencies, which have commenced operations, with subsidies to hire part-time workers during peak hours -- 5pm to 8pm, Monday to Friday -- starting Jan. 12, Taiwan Lottery president Chang Ruu-tian (張汝恬) said.
These measures are intended to help vendors quickly serve long lines of customers before the computer software used for transactions is completed. The Ministry of Finance, which oversees lottery operations, has set a deadline at the end of this month for the software to be implemented.
Based on an hourly wage of NT$80 (US$2.4), Taiwan Lottery, a subsidiary of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), will inject NT$14.6 million by Jan. 31 to complement the system.
Chang made the announcement during a four-hour meeting at the finance ministry yesterday with representatives of lottery agencies. The meeting was organized by the government to help solve the various problems vendors had encountered since the launch of the service on Jan. 1.
Lotto agencies complained of frequent computer crashes, insufficient stock of lotto papers, flawed ticketing programs and slow lotto ticket printing, which have led to weak sales and feeble consumer confidence.
Chang promised to fix all the problems as soon as possible, adding that the computer system would be stable by the end of the month.
To boost sales, Taiwan Lottery will also launch promotions during the Lunar New Year holidays. Detailed proposals will be submitted to the finance ministry for approval early next month, she added.
Tsai Ching-nain (蔡慶年), director general of the ministry's National Treasury Agency, said he was happy to see that both sides had reached consensus and that the tense relations between them had eased. He urged Taiwan Lottery to take the appropriate measures, warning that the government could suspend part or the entirety of its lottery operations.
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