Thailand has quite strict gambling laws but still remains extensively popular throughout the country both offline and online, although technically illegal in most cases. Check out the legal situation below, starting with the key info you need to know regarding the law, and find out which betting sites accept Thai players online. Meanwhile opponents of casino gaming in Thailand point to moral qualms they have with the practice and also to the fact that many in Thailand do not have the financial means to enjoy casino gambling and the overall lack of financial ability to support gambling habits could lead to serious social and economic problems for Thai society as a whole.

  1. While in Thailand, you can barely spot a physical casino. This is because gambling is illegal and is regulated by the Gambling Act of B.E.2478. So, this act forbids Thailand citizens from indulging.
  2. Thailand’s Gambling Act of B.E. 2478 passed in 1935 is the main piece of legislation related to gambling within the country. The legislation prohibits all forms of gambling in Thailand and splits the different forms into List A or List B classifications.

Brick and Mortar Gambling Law in Thailand

Our National Lottery is the only form of legal gambling that most people in Thailand have access to. This began in 1974. Today drawings are held on first and sixteenth day of every month. I will conclude this article by discussing how obsessed people are with this lottery. First I provide full details about how it all works including buying tickets and the money prizes.

Buying Thai Lottery

In Thailand lottery tickets are preprinted. All over the country lottery vendors can be found roaming markets, streets and villages. There are also stands outside big shops such as Tesco Lotus and Big C.

The official cost per ticket is 40 baht. However, these are sold in identical packs of two so it is only possible to buy two tickets at 80 baht (which are an exact match of each other). Also the sellers of the tickets charge a markup. As is the case with almost everything in Thailand, lottery prices are negotiable.

With street vendors the asking price might be 120-130 baht for the two tickets that have 40+40=80 baht face value. In stands outside major shops 100 Baht is a common price. Interesting is that vendors who do list prices often do so differently for each ticket. Unpopular numbers cost less (85, 90 and 95 baht) while ones containing lucky Buddhist number combinations cost more.

Thai Lotto Tickets Explained

The image to the right is our standard pack of two matching lottery tickets. For most drawings, all that matters is the six digit number. If you draw that number in exact order you will win prizes the prize for that draw.

So why are there two additional double- digit numbers on the ticket?

The bottom number indicates what of type of ticket it is. As of the time I’m writing this article there are two different jackpots.

For certain batches the top prizes are:

  • 3 million baht for all correct
  • 20 million baht for all correct + 2 digit bonus (0-99) number correct.

For the other batches the top prizes are:

  • 2 million baht for all correct
  • 30 million baht for all correct + 2 digit bonus (0-99) number correct.

The same six digit number (0-9 per slot) applies to both main draws. If you get the exact match, next look at the back of your ticket to see if the prize is 2 million or 3 million. From here there is an extra number (multiplier) drawn separate (0-99) for each. If you have the 2 million paying ticket – and the two digit number drawn for it matches, you get 30 million on that ticket. Because you hold two tickets you will get the 30 million + 2 million. The same for the ticket that pays 3 million: if you match the extra number you will get 20 million more for that portion of your ticket.

No matter which type of ticket you hold if you are one number off in either direction (for example if 223454 is the draw then 223453 and 223455 are 1 number off) you win a consolation prize of 50,000 baht. As you have two identical tickets you actually win 100,000 baht.

The remaining draws use only the six-digit numbers and prizes are as follow:

  • Second Prize = 100,000 Baht per ticket: 5 new six digit numbers are drawn for this and if your six digit number matches any of them you win.
  • Third Prize = 40,000 Baht per ticket: the same as above but here 10 new six digit numbers are drawn.
  • Fourth Prize = 20,000 Baht per ticket: the same with 50 new six digit numbers drawn.
  • Fifth Prize = 10,000 Baht per ticket: the same with 100 new six digit numbers drawn.
  • Last 3 = 2,000 Baht per ticket: Four sets of three numbers are drawn. If the last three digits of you six digit number match any of these four you win this prize.
  • Last 2 = 1,000 Baht per: A separate two digit number is drawn and if your last two is a match you win this prize.

Important Note:for reason that you have two identical tickets for every draw the prizes above are always doubled. The only one that is not is the main 20 million and 30 million jackpots.

Finding Thai Lottery Results

The lottery is drawn on the fist and sixteenth of every month. A television show is built around this that starts at 3PM. Towards the end of the show (just before 4PM) the lottery numbers are displayed. If you speak Thai you can also find the results on the official website www.glo.or.th.

How to Claim Lottery Prizes

Winning tickets can be redeemed for their prize at any Provincial Office of the Comptroller General’s Department (CGD). There is one of these in every province (3 in Bangkok). The tax is 0.5% of winnings. It is possible to redeem at shops though the fee is higher, about 2% is a typical price to negotiate to.

Thai People Love Lottery

Understand the lottery covered on this page is extremely popular. Especially so in rural areas where folk beliefs and Chinese religions have integrated with Buddhism – the ideas of spirits, ghosts, and dreams producing winning numbers is such a phenomenon here that in 2013 it was written about in the New York Times. It is also discussed inthis ThaiVisa thread.

In Thai temples there are bamboo sticks in tubes that visitors shake until one falls out. The stick that falls out has a number on it that corresponds with lottery poetry located on the wall. These include lucky numbers for playing the lottery. Enter เซียมซี into a Google image search might help you understand. Also, Prapheni Bun Bang Fai (ประเพณีบุญบั้งไฟ) is an annual merit-making ceremony practiced by ethnic-Loa people (such as my wife and her family) that live in Thailand. It involves large black-powder rockets. Those who attend watch the smoke in hopes of seeing lottery numbers appear in the trails.

My license plate number once had the winning numbers. At least half-a-dozen strangers stopped to point this out after the draw, most of them asking if I played. Seeing as I was lucky questions about my dreams and such followed in several conversations. The fact even days after the draw people remember and see past drawings appearing in places tells how popular this is.

Gambling Law In Thailand

Illegal Lottery in Thailand

As popular as our main lottery is the illegal lotto. In most every province there is at least one person running books that offers better odds than the legal lotto. These use the exact same six-number draw as the National Lottery. While very few are honest about what it costs and the odds, for the benefit of farang who wish to know:

  • Last Two Exact – for every 12 baht wagered the winnings are 1,000 baht.
  • Last Three Exact – for every 1 baht wager the winnings are 500 baht.
  • Last Three Any Order – for every 1 baht wagered the winnings are 90 baht

Understand the illegal lottery is a nationwide syndicate. While some sellers might charge more, or some might run books independent of this crime syndicate (thus charging more or less) the above are the standard odds for our illegal lottery.

1 | 2 | Next:Thailands Online Sport Betting Law Explained

Gambling in Southeast Asia is really taking off over the last few years, with even more countries getting ready to get in on all the action. Thailand is not one of them though, and they remain firm in their opposition to gambling in general.

Thailand does have limited legal gambling though, and the most popular form of gambling is playing the lottery. The lottery here was very popular even before it became legal, and the government looked at all of the money people were spending on it and decided that it would make sense for them to cash in on this bonanza themselves rather than let the black market make all of the money off of this.

Betting on horse racing is also permitted at two Bangkok race tracks which are also exempt from this law. These tracks are said to be frequented mostly by Bangkok high society and doesn’t’ really amount to that much as far as the overall amount of money that the Thai spend on gambling, as opposed to the lottery which is widely popular and also reaches into every corner of Thailand. (1)

Other than that, all other forms of gambling are illegal, under the Thailand Gambling Act of 1935. (2) This law prohibits all gambling not specifically authorized by law. The government hasn’t been too eager to authorize very much either.

There are other countries in Asia which have very strict anti-gambling laws, as well as countries elsewhere in the world, but a couple of things really stand out where Thailand is concerned, that really separate them from the pack here.

The first is the zeal that the government pursues gambling. While the penalties handed out aren‘t generally that severe, ranging from 500 to 5000 baht (about $15 to $150), and people found gambling are usually just fined, depending on the severity of the gambling, it also can carry up to 3 years imprisonment. The harsher penalties are generally reserved for organizers of the games though.

These laws apply to foreigners as well, and the authorities have been known to throw them in jail awaiting deportation, and deportation is often the response here in addition to fines, although if the offense is minor sometimes immigration officials will waive deportation. (3)

Foreigners and especially tourists charged with gambling can find themselves pretty intimidated though and often welcome a fine and deportation rather than facing more rigorous prosecution through the Thai justice system, so they very often plead guilty rather than having to post a long term bail bond, or if unable, serving several months in jail awaiting trial, and in either case having their stay perhaps extended far beyond what was anticipated.

There are over 50,000 arrests a year for gambling in Thailand, a huge amount, and anti gambling laws here aren’t just given lip service or exist primarily on paper only, like in a lot of places. The government is very serious about cracking down on it, and they take a very proactive approach to it as well, for instance having government agents spy on people, or set up gambling operations to entrap them. This is much more like a war on drugs than it is just looking to keep the peace, but the war here is on gambling.

Playing Poker In Thailand

The other distinguishing feature of gambling in Thailand is that in spite of these strict laws and great efforts to enforce them, illegal gambling in Thailand is very rampant, and that’s even an understatement.

To give you an idea of how big the black market for gambling is here, they do have a legal national lottery, but there’s also a black market lotteries here, and black market lotteries are said to be even bigger than the official, legal one. The black market versions are said to offer better odds and that is why people find them more appealing.

The main reason why black market gambling is so big in Thailand though is that the Thai people have a voracious appetite for gambling, and 70% of the people here are regular gamblers, a huge amount. When you throw that up against the very limited amount of legal gambling, well there’s going to be a lot of illegal gambling going on, and indeed, the underground gambling market here is a very large one, in the billions per year. People very often will also travel to neighboring countries, especially Cambodia, where several casinos are set up along the border with Thailand specifically for this. (4)

In addition to this, underground casinos are said to be everywhere, although they do concentrate on casino games, and there isn’t much poker around within the underground scene, other than in home games, where you have to know the host to be invited. (5)

Playing poker for money is against the law of course, and while it’s not illegal to be in possession of a deck of cards, it is illegal to produce or import playing cards, under the Playing Cards Act of 1943. (6) This is designed to slow down card games for money, but nothing slows down gambling here very much.

While simply playing a game with cards isn’t illegal, the presumption will be that if you are doing this then you are gambling, unless you are playing a game like bridge at a licensed bridge club, but it is true that given the penchant for gambling here, if cards are being played, money is probably changing hands as well.

Online Gambling in Thailand

It’s also forbidden to gamble online in Thailand, including playing online poker, but if the strict laws aren’t that effective in slowing down land based gambling, where there is a real risk of arrest, then online poker players here aren’t going to be too put out by the fact online poker is against the law here as well, especially since it’s very difficult to catch people doing this.

Given that the government here isn’t shy to enforce anti gambling laws, it’s not a surprise that they look to block people from accessing online gambling sites and online poker sites, as the government does in several other countries.

The actions of the government here isn’t just limited to this though, as they are particularly eager to prevent gambling in this country, and for those who do wish to play online poker, special care is advised, for instance you don’t want to be using a Thai credit card and also be found to be accessing online poker sites through a Thai ISP, and the government is known here to go to extremes to try to catch gamblers and even though it’s much more difficult to do so with online poker, they are still on the case here.

So this is a case where it’s a good idea to use a proxy to connect to online poker sites, even when playing, such as a virtual private network, and it’s also a good idea to use an internet wallet located in another country to move money in and out of these sites.

So there are a lot of online poker players in Thailand who enjoy online poker and with a little caution many feel pretty safe doing so. One of my top recommendations would probably be BetOnline Poker & Casino, which accepts players from almost EVERY location in the world minus the United States and several other countries.

References:

1. Online Gambling Sites in Thailand

2. Thailand Gambling Act

3. The Dangers of Gambling in Thailand

4. Thailand Gambling

5. Q&A With a Poker Player in Thailand

6. Playing Cards Act of 1943

Gambling Law In Thailand Myanmar

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