The twice-monthly Thai government lottery offers a top prize of about $67,000. It’s easy enough to play. All you need to do is buy a ticket (s) on the 1st or 16th of the month, give it to your wife or girlfriend, and she checks to see if it’s a winner. If it is, she collects the winnings, spends them and says thank you. The odds of winning are much higher than in European lotteries. This is because the number combinations are far more numerous and there are a greater number of people who play the lottery in Thailand. This high chance of winning has made the game a popular pastime amongst the locals.
The game has become such a national pastime that the government has started the Thai Charity Lottery to give back to some of its citizens. The lottery profits are donated to charities that the government approves of. The winnings are also taxed, reducing the overall jackpot amount to about half of what it would be in Europe or America.
As a result of the popularity of the lottery, there is a huge underground lottery industry in Thailand. This is especially true of soccer betting, where some bookies say they turn over $2 billion in bets on European games every year. These bets are placed by locals who use GLO-printed tickets.
A common superstition in Thailand is that tragedies precede good fortune. This explains why many locals search out numbers on license plates of cars that have been involved in accidents or on highway numbers where accidents have occurred. Many locals also believe that the number one is a lucky digit.
Despite the government crackdown, a great deal of money is still being wagered on the lottery in Thailand. The country’s former Prime Minister Thaksin expanded legalized gambling when he was in power from 2001 to 2006. He tried to introduce two- and three-digit lotteries and even a Las Vegas-style casino. His plan was ultimately thwarted by the military government that overthrew him in 2006.
The lottery is a popular pastime amongst the Thais, with 52% of women playing regularly. The government’s interest in the lottery and reforms have helped it to grow, and the odds of winning are more favorable than those in European and American lotteries. The tickets are printed on special yellow, thin paper that features a two-tone watermark of a Wayupak bird, as well as a silk thread that can be seen with the naked eye and under ultraviolet light. The paper is also coated with chemicals that show up when dropped on bleach, making it nearly impossible to counterfeit the tickets. In 2015, the government began to issue the tickets directly from its offices rather than selling them to local registered vendors. This helped to increase the transparency of the game and improve its credibility. In addition, the winners now have up to two years to collect their prizes.
