Lottery is a popular pastime in Thailand. The national lottery is operated by the government and draws are held on the first and sixteenth of every month. Known as “Slaak Kinaebng” in Thai, it is one of only two forms of legalised gambling in the country and is regulated by The Government Lottery Office (GLO). GLO prints the tickets itself which are then sold to wholesalers, who distribute them to local vendors for retail sale. It is estimated that around 67 million people of all ages play the lottery and spend more than 6.7 billion baht annually.
A variety of strategies have been used by Thai lottery winners in the hopes of increasing their chances of winning the prize money. The most common is to buy more tickets. However, it is important to remember that a successful win depends on luck. Winners have also reported interpreting dreams, seeing animals in the buildup to a draw and praying to banana trees as ways of improving their chances. There have even been reports of lucky numbers being revealed by dripping candles in holy water or through fortune telling with bamboo sticks.
The thai lotto ticket is printed on special yellow paper and has a six-digit number, a two-tone watermark of Wayupak, the mythical Thai bird and two types of silk thread that can be seen with a drop of bleach or under ultraviolet light. It is believed that a special chemical is added to the ink to discourage counterfeiting. The ticket also has a serial number on the back that is unique to each individual purchase.
If you are a lucky winner, you can claim your prize within two years from the date of the lottery draw. To do so, you must visit an authorized lottery agent and present the winning ticket together with a Thai ID card or passport for foreign bettors. If the amount of your prize is 20,000 baht or less, you can cash it out at any authorized retailer, while larger prizes are paid in the form of a cheque from the head office of the GLO.
It is also important to note that winnings from the thai lotto are taxed at 0.5% for government lottery winnings and 1% for charitable lottery winnings. These taxes are imposed by the government and are not to be confused with sales taxes.
Another popular pastime of the Thai is to bet on European soccer matches, particularly English Premier League games. This sport is so popular in Thailand that some bookies have reported monthly turnovers of up to $12 million. The phenomenon has led the government to propose delaying television broadcast of the games by 30 minutes in an attempt to reduce the amount of money wagered on them. However, it has been met with widespread criticism from the public and has failed to have any significant impact on betting. This is despite the fact that over $2 billion dollars in bets are placed on these events each year.
