The lottery is a popular form of gambling that generates revenue for organizers, fosters a sense of hope and optimism in participants, and fuels human spirit with the tantalizing possibility of an instant windfall. Moreover, despite the fact that the lottery is not a foolproof system of wealth creation, it is a valuable contributor to local economies by providing a source of entertainment and contributing to consumer spending.
THAI LOTTO
The Thai Lottery is a national lottery administered by the Government Lottery Office. It draws on the first and sixteenth of each month, and is one of only two forms of legal gambling in the country. Founded in 1932, the lottery has become an integral part of Thai society, with over 19 million Thais playing it every month, or roughly 28.6% of the native population.
Unlike other countries, where each ticket is sold separately, tickets in Thailand are sold in pairs. This allows sellers to mark up the price and make a profit. Although lottery tickets are legally priced at 80 baht each, street vendors typically sell them for much more than this amount. The reason is that they are purchased by those at the lowest socio-economic level of the population and are bought to be resold for a profit.
To win the lottery, you must match all six digits of your ticket in the correct order. If you do this, you will win the first prize of B50,000. The second prize is B40,000 and the third prize is B10,000. There used to be additional prizes of up to B22 million, but they were eliminated by the military government in 2014.
Guests at the lottery draw are called “Draw Chairman” and are given the opportunity to inspect the machines and check for anomalies. They also select colored balls to initialize each machine – yellow for the 2nd prize, pink for the 3rd prize, green for the 4th prize, and blue for the 5th prize. The Draw Chairman then randomly selects a number to begin the drawing process. When the drawing is over, the winner must present their winning tickets along with a copy of their ID or passport. The winner is then required to pay a 0.5% stamp duty on government lottery winnings and a 1% stamp duty on charitable lottery winnings. The ticket must be signed before it can be claimed.
