Thai lotto is a national lottery operated by the Thai government and drawn twice each month; typically on January 1st and 16th. The lottery is becoming increasingly popular among young people in Thailand as an alternative form of gambling such as online sports betting due to its variety of prizes, increased odds of success, credit purchases and convenience for buyers.
Thai lottery is a game of chance involving purchasing numbered tickets for a draw with prize money of several million baht. Each ticket contains two parts; the top part contains numbers while the bottom section allows users to claim prizes. To win, players must match up their ticket’s numbers with those drawn during a lottery drawing; prizes vary according to how many match up; usually all six numbers in an auction usually earn multiple millions as awards! Tickets can be bought both offline (from vendors) and online; some sites provide discounts when buying multiple tickets while others provide bonuses or even discounts or additional incentives based upon numbers purchased.
Some private companies have been selling Thai lotto tickets online and investing considerable sums of money in advertising to draw in customers. But authorities have begun cracking down on these sites, accusing them of overpricing tickets and violating direct sale laws, along with allegations of money laundering in certain instances.
Thailand currently offers two kinds of lottery tickets – Government Lotto (TGL) and Charitable Lotto (TCL). These differ only in their first prize payouts and taxes paid on amounts won; TGL tickets offer top payouts of six million baht plus an extra prize worth 30 million, while TCL tickets boast top prize of three million with 22 million bonus prize.
TGL and TCL tickets are pre-printed with anti-counterfeiting features to help combat counterfeiting. Sold in pairs of tickets costing 80 baht each, these tickets also display the prize schedule and additional details about each draw event; furthermore they feature one person called “Draw Chairman”, who randomly selects balls to initialize each lottery machine at each draw event.
Thai lotto winners must present both their passport or ID card and pay an additional stamp duty of 0.5% for government lotteries and 1% for charitable lotteries – this tax applies both domestically and abroad.
Although purchasing Thai lotto tickets is illegal, many young people still do it despite this legal restriction; many even purchase illegal lottery tickets from neighboring countries. A recent survey revealed 702,400 government lottery ticket buyers aged under 20, even though the age limit for sales of lottery tickets is 20 years. This government survey raises serious concern for its increasing prevalence among children and youths who purchase the lottery.