The lottery is one of only two legal forms of gambling in Thailand, and it’s a popular pastime for millions of Thais. Every year, the Government Lottery Office (GLO) sells more than 19 million pairs of tickets. The winning numbers are announced on the first and 16th of each month, and hordes of hopefuls tune in to watch the drawing. The prize money is largely distributed in the form of cash, with a percentage going to state revenue. The GLO also oversees a vast underground network that sells tickets, and its operations are rife with corruption and bribery.
In Thailand, there are countless ways to try and win the lottery. The numbers can be drawn on a computer, or by an operator using a physical shuffle board. The digits can be chosen individually or in groups, and the winner can take home up to a maximum of 10 million baht (US$323,000). The tickets are pre-printed and include several anti-counterfeiting features, and they are sold only in ticket pairs.
The most common way to pick lottery numbers is by visiting temples and gleaning advice from monks, which ties into Buddhist belief systems that see good deeds rewarded with fortune. It’s a practice that has been around for more than a century, and it remains a popular alternative to buying lottery tickets online.
Other Thais turn to luck through a myriad of other methods, from consulting online lottery gurus to choosing numbers based on their dreams. Many of these gurus claim to have a secret formula for picking the right number that will result in a grand prize win, and they are often backed by cryptic theories that incorporate elements of the cosmos and the occult. Sometimes, even negative events like car accidents or celebrity deaths are seen as harbingers of future good fortune, and many people will select lottery numbers that correspond to the names of these unfortunate souls.
The mystical, faith-based and imaginative aspects of lottery culture are what drive it to sustain such an immense following in Thailand, where many have little else by which to hope for a better future. But pinning their hopes on such a doomed process can have devastating consequences if the results don’t pan out. In March of 2015, a man in Chiang Mai province committed suicide after selling his motorcycle to buy lottery tickets that did not win. He left behind a note for his family that explained how the ticket purchases had been his last-ditch attempt to lift his family out of poverty.
