Thai lottery

The Government Lottery Office (GLO)
สำนักงานสลากกินแบ่งรัฐบาล
samnak ngan salak kinbaeng rattaban
Agency overview
JurisdictionGovernment of Thailand
Headquarters359 Nonthaburi Rd, Tha Sai Subdistrict, Mueang Nonthaburi, Nonthaburi
Annual budget8 billion baht (US$267 million)[1]
Agency executive
  • Lt. Col. Nhun Sansanakom, Director-General
Parent departmentMinistry of Finance
WebsiteOfficial website

Thailand's official national lottery (Thai: สลากกินแบ่ง, RTGS: salak kinbaeng) is administered by The Government Lottery Office (GLO).[2] The lottery is drawn on the first and the sixteenth of every month. It is one of only two forms of legalised gambling permitted in Thailand, the other being horse racing in Bangkok.

The lottery in Thailand is hugely popular despite the low odds of winning and the unfavourable payout ratio. The payout ratio for the Thai lottery is 60%,[3] as compared to worldwide averages of 74% for bingo, 81% for horse racing, 89% for slot machines, and 98% for blackjack (basic rules).[4] It is the most popular legal form of gambling in Thailand.[5]

Around 19.2 of 67 million Thais played the government lottery, spending 76 billion baht (US$2.3 billion) in 2014, according to the Family Network Foundation's Secretary Wanchai Boonpracha. Unlike in most countries, where the government licenses and monitors the lottery business, the Thai GLO itself prints and sells the tickets to wholesalers. The strict laws that forbid other gambling activities results in the GLO pocketing 28% of lottery profits for state use.[6]

  1. ^ "Lotto 'tigers' just a tale". Bangkok Post. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Vision / Mission / Slogan / Logo". The Government Lottery Office (GLO). Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference GLOAct was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Ariyabuddhiphongs, V. (Mar 2011). "Lottery Gambling: A Review" (PDF). Journal of Gambling Studies. 27 (1): 15–33. doi:10.1007/s10899-010-9194-0. PMID 20432057. S2CID 6867979. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  5. ^ Piriya-rangsan, S., et al. (2004). The Economics of Gambling. (3rd printing). Bangkok: Ruamduay-chuay-ahn.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference AC-20150525 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).