A man with a brown wooden box full of lottery tickets strapped to his bicycle is an image synonymous with Thai street trade. But these vendors face a difficult battle for survival and many are losing.
Thailand’s official national lottery (Thai:
The lottery’s premise is straightforward: participants buy tickets, pinning their hopes on a sequence of numbers. If their selection matches the winning combination, they win the grand prize. This game of chance is a revenue generator for organizers, an entertainment source for the community, and a potential economic stimulator. The fervor with which some people pursue their dreams of winning can even alter consumer behavior: winners, flush with windfall money, might inject some of it back into the local economy.
Lottery is also a unifying force in Thailand. Regardless of political or religious beliefs, the common pursuit of luck binds many together in an enduring cultural phenomenon. But this societal bond isn’t without its critics. In the past, the lottery has been criticized as a source of corruption, with activists burning down the GLO building in 1973 in protest of military dictators using the profits to line their pockets. More recently, lottery winnings have been a target of public criticism because they can make life harder for the poor—but this critique ignores how the lottery is an important form of social protection.
Fate, faith, imagination and superstition are the key ingredients of Thailand’s lottery culture. In a society where the majority of the population is Buddhist, lottery participation has an entwined history with religion. In fact, Buddhism and lottery practice share a long history of mutual benevolence. For the millions of Buddhists who regularly purchase lottery tickets, making merit by visiting temples to receive guidance on their number selection is a natural extension of their belief systems.
Despite the popularity of the lottery in Thailand, the odds of winning are slim. The average ticket holder’s chances of winning are 1 in 308,810. There is also a chance of a second prize that requires the player to match all six digits correctly. If all six digits are correct, the winner gets 200,000 baht. The third prize is 100,000 baht, and the fourth prize is 10,000 baht. These prizes are the highest in the country. Other prizes are given at the discretion of the lottery operator. These include cash prizes and various merchandise. Some of these prizes are based on the type of ticket purchased. For example, a lucky player may win a free flight or cruise trip. Others are based on the size of the ticket purchased or the number of tickets sold.