The lottery is one of the only two forms of legal gambling in Thailand, and it holds a central place within the country’s culture. Fate, faith, imagination and superstition are all wrapped up in its operations. And for many Thais, winning the lottery is a way to escape the hardships of daily life.
The Government Lottery Office (GLO) runs the official national lottery in Thailand, which is drawn on the 1st and 16th of every month. It is one of the most popular gambling activities in the world, with 19 million people playing it in the Land of Smiles, or 28.6% of the country’s population. But the lottery’s operation isn’t without controversy. For example, a number of critics say the lottery drains poor families’ incomes. And it can also be a source of debt. But supporters argue that it’s not a big money-loser and that the lottery has positive social impacts, such as helping families pay for education and health care.
In addition to the GLO, many vendors sell tickets. A common sight is a street vendor carting around a brown wooden box full of lottery tickets strapped to their bicycles. The GLO website lists 35,000 registered lottery vendors, but not all of them are active.
Those that are active, however, can be found all over the city and provinces. Some vendors are organized, selling only certain numbers or categories of tickets. Others are more loosely affiliated, selling any number of different types of tickets. In either case, most of the vendors are small-scale operators who don’t sell more than a few hundred tickets each day.
The lottery’s popularity in Thailand is also due to its accessibility, with the average cost of a ticket being only a few baht. This has led to the rise of an underground lottery that is four to five times bigger than its official counterpart. It uses the same tickets, but offers a more flexible purchasing system. The winners of the underground lottery are more likely to spend their winnings locally, injecting money into the local economy.
Besides buying lottery tickets, there are other ways to increase your chances of winning the grand prize. For example, many lottery players believe that their lucky numbers come from a variety of sources, including car accidents, celebrity deaths and plane crashes. They also believe that certain numbers are associated with particular spirits, such as ghosts, animals and numbers that spell out “luck”.
While some of the mystical practices surrounding lottery-playing in Thailand can seem absurd to outsiders, they hold significant significance for many Thais. For the poor, who make up a majority of its participants, it can be their only hope for financial security and a better quality of life. Even if they don’t win, the dream of winning is enough to keep them coming back. And for some, that dream can have devastating consequences when it doesn’t pan out.
