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A street vendor carrying a brown wooden box of lottery tickets strapped to a bicycle is a Thai stereotype. But this is more than just a simple symbol of the country’s lottery culture: it’s an important economic and social force that fuels the dreams of millions of people in Thailand.
Lottery is one of the only forms of legal gambling allowed in Thailand, and it’s played by almost 19 million Thais—or 28.6% of the country’s population. It’s also a source of state revenue, with 60% of ticket sales going to prize money and 28% to the government.
Despite these facts, the lottery is not without controversy: It has been called “a national curse” and the reason behind Thailand’s high suicide rate. Nevertheless, the lottery continues to thrive, fueled by a belief that luck can be manufactured. Many players believe that numbers seen in dreams or horoscopes are lucky, while others consult online lottery gurus like Thai Lottery King or My4Website who publish cryptic lottery number formulas and tips. Some even try to find numbers based on negative events like car accidents or celebrity deaths.
But the reality is that winning the lottery is a long shot. The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 1,000,000—or about a quarter less than the odds of dying from a heart attack or being hit by lightning. That’s why most people who play the lottery rely on all manner of rituals, superstitions, and charms to boost their chances.
Lottery tickets—called TGL or TCL, depending on whether they’re for the Government Lottery Office or the Thailand Charity Lottery—are pre-printed with a six-digit number and sold in pairs for 80 baht. They include a number of anti-counterfeiting features and can only be purchased in ticket pairs. Typically, people keep both tickets so they can claim the grand prize if they match all six numbers.
In addition to the official, regulated TGL lottery, there’s an underground lottery that uses the same tickets but has different rules. The underground lottery is estimated to be four or five times larger than the official government lottery, though it doesn’t offer as large of a prize pool. TGL’s tickets are designed to be sold only within Thailand, and while tourists have been known to win, it’s against the law for foreigners to buy the official tickets. The underground lottery, on the other hand, accepts cash payments from outside Thailand. This gives it an advantage over the TCL lottery, which only allows credit purchases and requires a GLO agent to verify that the ticket is authentic. The underground lottery also pays out prizes in smaller increments, making it easier for people to afford the tickets. These factors have made the underground lottery a popular option among Thailand’s lower-middle class and poor. But the truth is, it’s just as likely to cause financial ruin as to bring them wealth.