Thai govt. lottery not worth it: Poll

Wednesday 21st of September 2016

Over 60 percent of respondents to a recent online poll have said the Thai government lottery is not worth playing.

The poll, run by The Phuket News, ran over two weeks in the run-up to the mid-month lottery drawn on September 16, asking “Is the Thai lottery worth playing?”

According to the news outlet, 40 percent of respondents voted, “No, the chances of winning any of the prizes are too small.”

A further 22 percent of respondents voted, “No, the prizes are not big enough and without a ‘jackpot’ it’s not worth entering.”

And only 16 percent of respondents voted, “Yes, the tickets are cheap and the main prizes are large enough”, while a further 22 percent voted, “Yes, if you believe in your luck. Luck is all it takes to win any lottery.”

In July, it was reported that Thailand’s Ministry of Finance is expected to submit a lottery bill which will allow online lottery and require lottery vendors to have licenses in September.

However, the government is still yet to decide whether to allow online lottery, which may be subject to a thorough study of its impacts before it is passed.

The new bill will also ban the sale of lottery tickets in school and to people aged less than 20, said the source. Vendors who overprice the tickets will be liable to one month’s imprisonment and/or a fine of 10,000 baht (US$285).

In addition, vendors without licenses will be liable to a fine of 10,000 baht and up to three months imprisonment.

Lottery Poll Government lottery Respondent