thai lotto is the official national lottery of Thailand. It is one of only two forms of legalized gambling allowed in the country (the other being horse racing). The lottery is regulated by the Government Lottery Office (GLO) and is drawn twice per month on the first and sixteenth of each month. The GLO prints the tickets, which are sold to wholesalers and then to retail venues throughout the country.
There are a number of different types of lottery numbers available to players in Thailand. These range from single digits to three-digit numbers. Unlike some other lotteries, however, you don’t pick your own numbers in the Thai Lottery – instead, the ticket comes with pre-printed lottery numbers on it. This is partly because the GLO wants to make the ticket as accessible as possible to people of all income levels, and this also helps prevent lottery prices from being inflated by vendors trying to sell tickets with “lucky” numbers for outrageous amounts.
The tickets are printed on special paper that has a six-digit number, a two-tone watermark of a Wayupak bird (which can only be seen under ultraviolet light) and is coated with chemicals to protect it from counterfeiting. To add to the security, each ticket also contains a serial number and a barcode which is scanned at the ticket counter. These measures have helped keep ticket prices low in the past, even when the top prize was 30 million baht.
While a lottery isn’t exactly the most lucrative game in terms of jackpot prizes, it is a national pastime for Thais. The passion with which they chase lucky numbers results in a ritual that has become a major part of their culture.
Many Thais go to temples and shrines in order to pray for luck in the lottery, and some even consult fortune tellers. When a respected monk dies, crowds flock to his temple not just to pay their respects but in the hope of picking up some lottery hints – perhaps the date of the monk’s birth or death, or the numbers from his hospital room.
The standard odds of winning the first prize in thai lottery are 1 in 100,000, but the odds change with each draw. The number of tickets printed and sold changes the odds, and this is why it is important to check your ticket numbers regularly. If you don’t, you could miss out on a massive sum of money!