There are two types of thai lotto tickets – the Thai Government Lottery (TGL) and the Thai Charity Lottery (TCL). The TGL is run by the government and offers a monthly drawing and a semi-annual jackpot. The TCL is a public welfare lottery and operates only on select occasions. The proceeds from both are used for a variety of public initiatives.
Unlike many other lottery games, where players choose their own numbers, thai lotto is pre-printed with a set of numbers and a sleeve that shows the official logo. The winning numbers are announced on the first and 16th of every month and a prize is awarded to whoever has the matching digits in the correct order. The winnings can be in the millions of baht.
The lottery is one of the two forms of legal gambling allowed in Thailand. The Government Lottery Office, known as GLO, prints the lottery tickets and sells them to national wholesalers, or brokers, who then sell them on to the nation’s 14,760 registered retail venues. These are typically street vendors and markets, but some high-end retail venues also offer the tickets.
A ticket features a six-digit number and a unique watermark of a mythical bird called a Wayupak. In addition, the paper is coated with special chemicals that make it impossible to copy the ticket. Moreover, it is very thin and smooth. If a ticket is not printed on GLO-approved paper, it will have an orange color with a yellowish tinge. The paper also has a pattern on it that can only be seen under ultraviolet light.
To win a prize in the thai lotto, players must choose their numbers carefully. They must choose a number they believe will bring them good luck and stick with it. Those who try to select their numbers based on estimates often lose.
Some people also try to find signs of good fortune in their daily lives to get a hint of the winning numbers. For example, they may look for figures in the barks of trees (three represents three), snakes (a giant snake is representative of the number five and a small snake represents six), rats (linked to the number one) or other omens.
A person must visit the GLO headquarters to claim a thai lotto prize, and must present his or her passport in order to be verified as a winner. The winnings will then be transferred to the winners’ bank accounts. If the prize is less than 20000 baht, the money will be paid in cash by local agents. For larger prizes, the winners must visit the GLO office in person and show their passports. They will also be required to pay a 0.5% stamp duty on their winnings. If the prize is more than 2,000,000 baht, the winners must submit their passports to the GLO in order to receive their payouts. The total prize amount will be divided evenly among the winners in the correct order of their winning numbers.
