Picture courtesy of Bangkokpost

The Pheu Thai Party’s proposal to award nine million baht every day through a lucky draw has triggered strong criticism, with opponents calling it unethical and wasteful, while the party argues it would strengthen Thailand’s digital tax system. The plan, unveiled during the current election campaign, has quickly become a focal point of debate over populist policies and the use of public funds.

The initiative, formally titled “Creating Nine Millionaires a Day”, was outlined on Saturday by Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidate Yodchanan Wongsawat during campaigning in Bangkok’s Bang Na district. Under the proposal, nine people would each receive one million baht daily, amounting to a total annual cost of about 3.285 billion baht. The party insists the core purpose is not cash handouts but encouraging the use of official receipts to generate comprehensive economic data.

Mr Yodchanan said mandatory receipts linked to the scheme would allow the government to better understand livelihoods, prices and spending patterns across society. He argued this information would improve GDP forecasting, revenue estimates and the design of targeted assistance programmes. According to him, integrating data from the informal economy is essential to building a fully fledged digital government.

Funding, he said, would come from additional tax revenue generated once informal economic activity is drawn into the system. Pheu Thai leader Julapun Amornvivat added that four of the nine daily prizes would be reserved for specific groups: registered farmers, registered volunteers such as village health workers and veterans, elderly citizens, and personal income tax filers. The remaining five prizes would be drawn from people making purchases with official receipts.

Criticism has been widespread from academics and political rivals. Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, an independent academic and former election commissioner, questioned the statistical appeal of the scheme, saying that even if someone believed they were guaranteed to win, it would take around 115,000 years before that chance arrived. Based on a target population of 50 million, he estimated the probability of winning within a year at roughly one in 15,000.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the policy would deliver little sustainable benefit and argued the same budget could fund skills training for up to one million people. Democrat deputy leader Korn Chatikavanij also criticised the proposal, calling it an inefficient redistribution of taxpayers’ money and questioning the transparency of the random selection process.

Bangkokpost reported that Pheu Thai says the policy has been reviewed by its policy team and will be submitted to the Election Commission. The proposal is expected to remain a prominent issue as parties continue campaigning and scrutiny of election pledges intensifies.

Key Takeaways

• Pheu Thai proposes awarding nine daily prizes of one million baht at an annual cost of 3.285 billion baht.

• The party says the scheme would expand the digital tax base and integrate the informal economy.

• Critics argue the odds of winning are negligible and funds could be used more productively.

  

Adapted by ASEAN Now from Bangkokpost 2026-01-26

 

 

Blind, stupid, or conniving, or all three?

Didn't Pheu Thai see Musk's cringey, illegal "$1.5M/day for Trump votes" lottery idea that got laughed off the internet?

If they did see it then not only have they just copied it, they've added a dystopian twist!

While Musk’s stunt was just crude vote-buying, Pheu Thai is dressing theirs up as "economic digitization." But, I suspect their real goal isn’t just handing out cash, rather it's using the lottery bait to get everyone to scan and tag every purchase with a mandatory receipt, hooking the entire informal economy into a state surveillance system.

They’re not just buying votes for a day, they're trying to buy the entire financial footprint for their database, forever. It's a cheap imitation with a sinister upgrade.

Worse still, apart from the actual odds of anyone winning, they want this 9-million baht daily give away to be government policy, with all Thais having to pay for it through their taxes!

Mark's idea of using this money for skills funding is a far more sensible approach.

Waste money that could be spend much better.. and besides that It is illegal in Thailand to gamble, so why a new lottery?? The EC should investigate this crazy idea properly, as it only will bring more poverty and higher household debts, as Thai people like to gamble. It is obvious that Pheu Thaia don't care about the people and the country only about themselves

You could radically change most people's lives (including mine) with, say, the sum of ฿500 000.-. Even then, most people would just blow it away in a month or two. Sorry to be so old fashioned, but getting that much money for nothing is sinful. A survey was conducted in the UK years ago about people experiencing huge wins; most of them ended up financially and health-wise wrecked. Divorces and deaths behind the wheels of luxury cars....

Folks If Pheu Thai gets elected, everyone in Thailand is going to have a chicken dinner every night, and everyone will be a millionaire........lol

I can only imagine how these millions will be mostly distributed to Tony's favored friends......

And instead of the Thai people screaming where is our 10,000 baht from last time that you lied about.....

The Thai people are screaming, we are going to be millionaires....lol

Trust me, they will be a lot poorer if they have to start paying taxes.

I'm always confused by Thai parties.

Were these the lot that opened up the borders to the DTV letting in mass uncontrolled immigration, then let in Indians visa free? Also started of by letting Russians stay for ages after their illegal invasion of Ukraine?

1 hour ago, DonniePeverley said:

I'm always confused by Thai parties.

This is more the 'party party' kind of party.

A shameless vote buying move.

It's amazing how people can be influenced with money promises.

What happened to the lady openly complaining that she didn't get her 500 Baht to vote for Bumjai Thai in the local elections ?

Give a man a fish and he will have a full stomach for a day. Give him a fishing rod and teach him how to fish and he will have a full stomach every day.

This scheme falls into the former category

A vote buying scam if ever there was one. 99% of the people will go for it, in hope!

On 1/26/2026 at 8:35 AM, redwood1 said:

Folks If Pheu Thai gets elected, everyone in Thailand is going to have a chicken dinner every night, and everyone will be a millionaire........lol

I can only imagine how these millions will be mostly distributed to Tony's favored friends......

And instead of the Thai people screaming where is our 10,000 baht from last time that you lied about.....

The Thai people are screaming, we are going to be millionaires....lol

Trust me, they will be a lot poorer if they have to start paying taxes.

The poor Thais will get a million baht, and then in a month, the rich will have it, and the poor Thais will be further in debt. Giving these people money without any education or responsibility is like giving a kid a top video game and telling them only to play a little bit each day. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

The rich will get richer, thanks to the government, and the poor will stay poor. How many Thais have enjoyed a ong term better life after winning the lottery?

Somchai gets a million baht. Buys a new SUV or truck, buys a new house, helps all his family, and in a couple of months, he is backinthe lottery for the million.

Team Thaksin already beginning to show signs of panic. They can spin as much BS as they like about the hypothetical benefits etc, but it’s quite obvious it’s a ploy to get votes and should be deemed illegal and unethical and action taken against them immediately.

Wait, isn't vote buying illegal.

The PT party couldn't even deliver on the 10,000 THB promise, and yet - and yet - they're at it again.

I really hope most of their former supporters realize this is yesterday's party and yesterday's leaders. I know several who used to vote PT but changed to Pita's party in the last election and will vote that way again this time around. But will Move Forward get to actually govern? Or will the same greedy establishment types disenfranchise the electorate again? I bet it's a replay - even if they get an outright majority - they'll get thrown out for some new but equally farcical reason.

16 hours ago, ronnie50 said:

The PT party couldn't even deliver on the 10,000 THB promise, and yet - and yet - they're at it again.

I really hope most of their former supporters realize this is yesterday's party and yesterday's leaders. I know several who used to vote PT but changed to Pita's party in the last election and will vote that way again this time around. But will Move Forward get to actually govern? Or will the same greedy establishment types disenfranchise the electorate again? I bet it's a replay - even if they get an outright majority - they'll get thrown out for some new but equally farcical reason.

Can sokmeone please tell me a campaign promise that PTor Thaksin have made that they were able to make Thais better.

A tablet for every student. Nope

25k for every university grad NOPE

10 K for everyone over 18 nope,

the rice Scheme. LingYuckis is in exile. It was so bad.

I know I ammissing some, but these were the main ones.

The only votes PT are going to get this election are the ones that vote red no matter what, and some of us should remember what the red really wanted to do.

BJT and the PP are going to be the 2 main winners in the election. It all depends on who is the bigger winner.

PT and the Dems have become part of the supporting cast and are no longer really relevant except as possible parts of a coalition.

Vote buying, plain and simple. And, shameless.

Ethics and Pheu Thai in the same sentence? Seriously. 🤣

9 hours ago, kingstonkid said:

PT and the Dems have become part of the supporting cast and are no longer really relevant except as possible parts of a coalition.

Mark (Dem leader) who shamelessly accepted the premiership from the establishment's soaked-in-blood 'freefire zone' 2 decades ago is hoping some of those oldie richy Chinese-Thai establishment royalist families will vote for him again. Some will, but it will be inconsequential in a free/fair national general election - as the number of Dem seats would be small as always. The latter part (whether a free/fair vote) remains to be seen though. PT is yesterday's party as I said. PP has a real shot at a pluralist majority (in free/fair elxn).

Totally stupidity.

They should use the Korean system.

Korea had a almost total cash economy. So the government said if you issue a recipept a lottery number is on the receipt free of charge. Before long everyone was demanding receipts! Problem solved

Will never forgive for Indian visa free. Never forget.

On 1/26/2026 at 3:54 AM, Georgealbert said:

He argued this information would improve GDP forecasting, revenue estimates and the design of targeted assistance programmes. According to him, integrating data from the informal economy is essential to building a fully fledged digital government.

Are you frigging kidding me! " ..a fully fledged digital government." Does that mean that I won't have to sign 4-15 copies of paperwork for every trip to immigration, land transport office or any other official government office? Thailand is the king of paperwork!