so my Gf told me this story that you might find interesting, I did.

her father is chinese thai, her mother is thai. she lived in bangkok and was 8 years old when the financial crisis hit. at this time, her aunt and her uncle ran an illegal lottery that used three numbers from the national lottery and payed out better odds then the government lottery offered. she was paid a thousand baht a week to ride around on her bicycle collecting money from various people in the so-soy-am neighborhood who owed money after borrowing on credit. before the crisis, some of the players would have credits up to 200,000 baht.

every month the policemen would come around and would be paid a large amount of money. she said that whenever the police had a "christmas party" they would call her aunt and tell her what alcohol they needed.

when the financial crisis hit, her father who worked as an engineer was told that he could keep his job at 40% of his previous salary. their house and car were sold along with their jewerly.

her aunt was arrested and spent a day in the police department while her husband and brother found the money to bail her out. she spent the following year hiding from the police in another province. she is still making payments to the police in 2007.

Interesting story. I met a girl in the Beergarden a couple a years ago who told a similar story except the uncle in this case was her father and her adopted brother who was a policeman assisted in the collections.

so u girlfriend must be 18 then!

Hmmm another buffalo story from the sounds of it!!!

Hmmm another buffalo story from the sounds of it!!!

The buffalo made the collections? Now thats a moo-ving story..Talk about taking a bull by the horns...Gee I could milk this one for awhile but I think I will stop while I am aherd of the game...

A similar story had to have been told here a while ago because it sounded way too familiar when I read it too. Particularly the illegal lottery part.

Interesting story. I met a girl in the Beergarden a couple a years ago who told a similar story except the uncle in this case was her father and her adopted brother who was a policeman assisted in the collections.

The tales of woe should always have some sort of originality

So many tragic stories in Thailand.

The next time I'm there I'm not going to visit bars, consort with ladies or eat more than once a day.

I will give all my money to a charity for sick buffaloes and girls with troubles.

Interesting story. I met a girl in the Beergarden a couple a years ago who told a similar story except the uncle in this case was her father and her adopted brother who was a policeman assisted in the collections.

The tales of woe should always have some sort of originality

One would think but it's always the same few stories over and over again. The problem is that everyone uses them. Not fun to be new in Thailand

But she is not like................. Ahh, you know.

before the crisis, some of the players would have credits up to 200,000 baht.

Unlikely, SS... unless by players, you mean other down the line underground lottery dealers, because the payout on 2 digits is 50-60 to 1 and the payout on 3 digits is 450-500 to 1. The typical plays are 10 Baht to around 5,000 Baht... it's unlikely anyone would have a credit in the hundreds of thousands... as that would leave the dealer open to risking potential payouts of 50 to 100+ million Baht for the 3 digit lottery. Most dealers that I know only keep around 5-10 million in cash on hand as a payout reserve, with the average take (and this totally varies across the spectrum) around 500,000-800,000 per drawing (two a month), and maybe only 10,000-25,000 a day on the SET lottery (betting on what the two digits of the SET index will be at closing each business day) for a medium to largish sized lottery dealer. And actually, the house doesn't always win, I've seen more than a few dealers lose their shirts as well, with the players coming out on top - of course, that's super rare overall though.

As they say, poor people gamble on the lottery, well to do folks gamble on the stock market.... and in fact poor people gamble on well to do folks gambling on the stock market as well... just to make sure that they stay poor.

Edited July 7, 200719 yr by Heng

So many tragic stories in Thailand.

The next time I'm there I'm not going to visit bars, consort with ladies or eat more than once a day.

I will give all my money to a charity for sick buffaloes and girls with troubles.

Stay near home. A girl will be around on her bicycle to collect.

Oh, was that the whole story, then? I was waiting for the next instalment.

Oh, OK, then.

Is it only me that's completely missing the point of this?

No NR, your not the only one. Had similar thoughts after i read it too.