When “marrying” in Panama can lead to job loss

By Your Man in Panama

Marrying is not all that it’s made out to be, at least not in Panama where it can lead to fines and loss of livelihood.

Are you  one of the scores of thousands of lottery ticket purchasers, who choose numbers based on a birth date, graduation year, divorce date or the day you first found your spouse cheating on you? Licence plate numbers are losing popularity as there haven’t been any new plates issued this year.  But for all the lucky number speculators in one of Panam’s biggest industries, there was good news yesterday.
The National Lottery (LNB)has withdrawn licences from lottery sellers who have repeatedly broken the rules by  “marrying” ticket numbers. That is, when you want to buy a ticket with your favorite number, the seller says you have also to buy a ticket with another number, even a number of his or her choice.
Albey Ramos, deputy director of Operations for the LNB, wants a halt to the practice which is against a law dating back to 1970.
Ramos said his inspectors will remain vigilant to prevent the sale of married tickets and as a warning shot over the ticket tables on Monday fined nine sellers for breaching rules and one was suspended from the lottery.
The action enraged some sellers who besieged the lottery HQ screaming “persecution” Ramos countered with "this is not persecution," merely upholding the law to protect “consumers”.
Either way, the sanctions appeared to have little affect on illegal operations as a quick check yesterday afternoon found many sellers still marrying tickets, and others charging a premium on selected numbers.
Pointing out that the practices were illegal got only a shoulder shrug. Whether the law breakers get caught by some 15 LNB investigators is a gamble, and in Panama, that’s in the blood.

Maybe the next blitz should be on the sellers who scowl at  buyers for breaking into their day as if they are doing .a favor by selling a ticket.

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