A thai lotto is a lottery where participants draw numbers for a chance to win a cash prize. The odds of winning are one in a million, but players can increase their chances by buying multiple tickets and matching two or more numbers. The thai lotto is one of the most popular games in the country, and it’s available to both citizens and foreigners.
While gambling is illegal in Thailand and is frowned upon by the religion of Buddhism, the country is filled with casinos and lottery dens. Ticket prices are usually inflated, as are the odds of winning. In addition to the official state lottery, many Thais participate in “underground” (huay) lotteries, a vast network of dealers who operate parallel lotteries that are estimated to have 4-5 times the economic impact of the official government lottery.
Each lottery ticket features a six-digit number. To discourage counterfeiting, the tickets are printed on special yellow, thin, smooth paper with a two-tone watermark of Wayupak, a mythical Thai bird. The paper also has two types of silk thread—one visible with the naked eye, the other visible only under ultraviolet light. Lastly, the paper is coated with chemicals so that drops of bleach will show stains, while those without will not.
For those who are not lucky enough to pick the winning number, there are several smaller prizes to win. The first prize is a two-digit number that carries a 2,000 baht prize. Each of the other four prize levels has a three-digit number, and the last prize is a six-digit number that carries a 100,000 baht prize. The draw chairman randomly selects a colored ball to determine the order of lesser prize draws.
Although the lottery is not as big in thailand as in other countries, there are still plenty of people who take it seriously. During the soccer season, it is not uncommon to see hundreds of thousands of dollars change hands at a single bookie. The phenomenon has spawned its own newspaper and TV shows. Despite the fact that betting on soccer matches is illegal, some governments are reluctant to crack down on it. This is probably because it provides the government with a good chunk of its tax revenue.
