Thai Lotto is one of the most beloved forms of gambling in Thailand. Although there are restrictions against most forms of gambling in law, an estimated 70% of Thais gamble regularly. Furthermore, in addition to official lotteries run by government bodies there exists an underground network which may bring in four or five times greater economic returns than its official equivalents.
Thai lottery draws are run by the Government Lottery Office and occur twice monthly. Tickets can be found for purchase at convenience stores, street vendors and official lottery retailers. In order to win, players must match up the numbers on their ticket with those drawn in a lottery draw; prize amounts depend on how many correct matches there were; top prize for matching all six numbers usually ranges several million baht.
How to Play Thai Lotto
The first step in playing thai lotto is purchasing a lottery ticket at a cost of 80 baht; each ticket contains two parts – the top part contains lottery numbers while the bottom portion can be used to claim prizes at draws held every first and sixteenth of each month; results of these draws are announced nationally via television broadcast and newspapers respectively, after which successful participants should visit GLO offices to claim their prize money.
Winners may need to pay taxes on top of their prize money depending on which ticket type was purchased; those purchasing TGL tickets must pay 0.5% stamp duty while those purchasing TCL tickets will need to pay 1% stamp duty; some retailers collect and pay this stamp duty directly on behalf of their customers.
To claim their prize, winners must present both their winning ticket(s) and passport or Thai ID card, along with proof of purchase from either shop they obtained their tickets from. Prizes over 20,000 baht must be collected directly at the Government Lottery Office; otherwise they can claim them directly from that store where the ticket was bought.
If a winning ticket has been drawn, its owner must complete a form and get a queue number, present his/her tickets along with their passport or Thai ID card and sign the ticket/s. Finally, tax of 0.5 percent on their winning amount must be paid.
Although the government crackdown has reduced its popularity, some still hold onto beliefs that certain numbers or sequences have symbolic meaning or are believed to be lucky or have some sort of symbolic value. One superstition associated with accident reports being filed can lead to people believing the numbers on license plates involved were somehow more auspicious; such thinking stems from Thai culture where tragedy often precedes fortune; which explains why Thais can still be found perusing highway numbers where accidents were filed as signposts to good fortune despite any crackdown; no event too tragic can be considered an augur of luck or good fortune!
