Thailand National Lottery
“National Lottery”
Every first and sixteenth day of the month, millions of Thais eagerly follow the televised announcement of the lucky number for the national lottery. Some lottery fans humourously designate both dates as the National Day of Hope. Thai lottery was initially sold on special occasions in the reign of King Chulalongkorn to raise funds for charity. It was issued on a regular basis in the 1930s and eventually became a major source of state revenue. In 2020, the Government Lottery Office transferred almost 1.4 billion USD from its revenue to the government treasury, ranking first among all the state enterprises even those in charge of petroleum and electricity. As the prize of the lottery is rewarding, fortune seekers would grab every opportunity to guess the “magic number” from any event that could be regarded as an auspicious omen. This could range from a banana tree flowering in a strange form, a new born calf with five legs or the car plate number of the Prime Minister! Whether for fun or fortune, lottery has become an integral part of life of so many Thais in quest for a bit of excitement every half month.

