There are two types of Thai lottery tickets: The Government Lottery ticket (TGL) and the Thai Charity Lottery ticket. The drawings for both of these tickets take place once a month at the GLO headquarters and are broadcast live on TV. The first prize for the TGL ticket is three million baht and there are 10 prizes that can be won. The smallest prize is 1,000 baht for those who match all six digits in the third prize draw.
Unlike in the United States, where the winnings for lotto games are paid out in annuities of 20 or 30 years, in Thailand winners can choose to receive their prizes as lump sum payments. This is more appealing to many people who want to be able to immediately use their winnings. However, if you want to invest your winnings, an annuity is probably the better option.
Lottery is a popular pastime in Thailand, with a few pitfalls that can be avoided with careful planning and diligence. The most common scam involves buying lottery tickets online and then reselling them to others. The resale of lottery tickets is considered illegal in Thailand, and the penalties for doing so can be severe.
Another type of lottery scam is buying a lottery number, which is then sold to someone else for an unreasonably high price. This is a very risky activity, because it is impossible to verify the accuracy of the number being purchased. In addition, this type of fraud is difficult to trace. If you buy a lottery number from a stranger, make sure to keep the receipt in case you need to return it.
In some cases, lottery scams are perpetrated by friends and relatives of the winners. They may ask the winner to give them a small percentage of the jackpot before they can claim it. In this way, the scammer can avoid paying taxes on the winnings and get a higher return on his or her investment.
Many Thais believe that numbers are lucky based on symbols that appear in dreams or messages from the universe disguised as ordinary events. This is why many of them choose their numbers using a variety of methods, including candle drippings and the capacity to calculate short odds for a particular set of numbers. This writer’s own grandfather took a more pragmatic approach, choosing his lucky numbers by counting the number of days that he had been alive.
The Government Lottery Office has started selling digital lottery tickets through its Paotang mobile app. The service, which launched at 6am Thursday morning, has been an instant success, with over 500,000 tickets sold within an hour of opening. The tickets are sold at the retail price of 80 baht each. A second round of sales will be held later this year, with the same prize pool and a different drawing date. The prizes for the second and third prizes will remain unchanged, but the first prize has been increased to three million baht.
