The thai lotto is the official national lottery of Thailand. It is operated by the Government Lottery Office (GLO) and draws are held twice a month, on the first and 16th of each month. It is one of only two forms of legal gambling in Thailand and is played by more than 19 million Thais; that’s 28% of the country’s total population.
There are a few things that you should know before playing the thai lotto. First of all, you can only buy tickets from authorised vendors and street sellers. The GLO does not sell them online or over the phone. In addition, a ticket costs 120 baht. That price is higher than what you would pay in the UK or Australia, but that’s because the merchants have to make a profit on each sale.
You can find the results on the GLO website at around 5 pm on lottery dates. Each draw has a number that carries a prize, for example, if the number 45 is drawn you win 2,000 baht. There are also three digit numbers that carry prizes of 4,000 baht each and four six digit numbers that can be worth up to 3,000,000 baht. The prizes for the different numbers vary depending on their position in the draw.
Unlike in many Western countries, where people simply choose their lucky numbers by chance, Thais take the lottery very seriously. It is believed to be a way to win the money for the family and help them through hard times. Thousands of people visit shrines to pray for their luck before the draw, and many Thais will interpret their dreams or messages from the cosmos disguised in everyday events to determine their lucky numbers. It’s not uncommon for them to use a horoscope to choose their numbers, too.
Some people even have children pick their numbers for them, and many will check their numbers every day. This is because the top prize in the thai lotto is huge, so it can change their lives dramatically. In the past, there were even omens and charms that were supposed to bring good fortune. These included the number of rings on a banana tree, the number of spots on a cat’s fur, snakes (a giant snake is representative of the number five and a small one represents the number six), rats and more.
Those who have won the lottery will need to submit the winning ticket together with their identification card or passport if they’re foreigners. The GLO will then verify the winning numbers and issue the prize money. Winners must also pay a 0.5% stamp duty on government lottery winnings and 1% on winnings from charitable lotteries. Despite this, the odds of winning the top prize are still very high. In fact, the chances of winning are roughly one in a million, which is very favorable when compared to other national lottery results. This makes the thai lotto an extremely popular choice for locals.
