Study reveals truth behind Thailand's gambling addiction

[kkup]

amazing

[Bagwan]

Just a small group of women in my village (approx 10) playing cards in someones home drop the police 6000baht every 10 days to avoid problems.

My wife comes from a village just outside Prakhon Chai. We discussed this item and she said that it was very unlikely that a village lady could afford to shell out 1,800 baht every thirty days just for the privilege of losing even more money. Her view is that this is total nonsense.

[mca]

I'll bet you 5000 baht that gambling in Thailand isn't as big a problem as they make out.

[GentlemanJim]

True Story, happened 10 minutes ago.

Our Aircron guy has just been round to service a couple of units in the house. He seemed quite happy and I asked if business was good. He said very good, as he had just installed aircon for a big new casino in town ????? I said 'casino', he said yes, looking at me like 'what's the problem'. It turns out that a guy who had been running a casino behind a fortress type wall about 3km outside town has moved into a main building in the town center. I said that was a bit of a ballsy move and then he said something that made my comments totally futile. "Oh no problems he said, his business partners are the two senior policemen in town". I walk off shaking my head looking for the brochure of property in New Zealand. TGIF !

[HeijoshinCool]

"Phongsathon Chantharassami ... said law enforcement was the key to tackling illegal gambling in the country."

Absolutely correct.

In my GF's neighborhood, there are five card houses up and running every night. Every first of the month the police stop by for some tea, and some tea money, then disappear for a month. (Unless they come back that night to gamble, that is.)

[Pimay1]

Just a small group of women in my village (approx 10) playing cards in someones home drop the police 6000baht every 10 days to avoid problems.

My wife comes from a village just outside Prakhon Chai. We discussed this item and she said that it was very unlikely that a village lady could afford to shell out 1,800 baht every thirty days just for the privilege of losing even more money. Her view is that this is total nonsense.

There is a Hi-Low game next door to me that runs seven days a week. Starts about 10am and closes about 10pm. If high rollers come they play all night. The police come by every Friday to collect their money. Some days they come in the police truck. Don't know how much but they do get their share.

[DocN]

Well, i'm sure you have guessed wrong, most countries will only sell alcohol to over 18 or 21. i can send my seven year old to the shop for whisky and fags here. not in th uk

The youngest "gambler" was a seven-year-old... wow! It makes me wonder how young the little thais start drinking whiskey

About as young as the youngsters in your country, I guess.

Not here either unless you are referring in general to village shops? Same as in the UK, go to a rural shop and they'll even sell you their daughter, same here if you go to a village!

P.S send a 7 yo to buy fags in the UK and he/she will more than likely get mugged on the way, especially carrying that kind of money!

So...you are honestly and seriously comparing Thailand with many European countries, when it comes to protecting children from gambling, drinking, smoking, porn etc.?!

Just out of interest: how many 10 year olds have you seen in the UK or Germany, who are driving a motorcycle- whilst wearing no helmet- without a light, into oncoming traffic, chauffeuring another 10 year old and a 5 year old...directly in front of a policeman?

How many children between 8 and 14 have you seen in Holland or the USA, after midnight, in bars or strip-clubs/ GoGo Bars?

How high is the rate of illegal gamblers under the age of...let's say...16...in Belgium or Denmark?

How regular have you witnessed girls and boys between 6 and 12, buying alcohol in a local convenience- store?

[Mudcrab]

Our place is about 35k from Chong Chom on the Cambodian border. Within 100m of the border are the casinos. Absolutely full of Thais from all over the place. Cheap accommodation and food. Thailand should take note and cash in. As an added bonus there is a huge market on the Thai side with Cambodian prices. Border crossing easy with or without visa!

[khaowong1]

And I thought this article was going to be about "Why" Thai's love to gamble. We all know they do. What causes their gambling addiction?

[mrfill]

What uninformed rubbish. No rural shop owners in the UK will sell you their daughters. They are too civilised.

1. Legalise gambling in Thailand.

2. The government collect massive gambling taxes.

3. The Thai people(hopefully)will not be so poor.

To have so much gambling going on when it is supposed to be illegal is another example of what I call the Thai-lie.

Uninformed rubbish indeed. The reality is

1 Legalise gambling in Thailand

2 The people amass massive gambling debts

3 Organisers get very rich using unfair odds, Poor Thais get poorer

While gamblers will all tell you about how much they have won, the reality is that most people lose.

If you don't believe that, show me a poor bookmaker

[Bkungbank]

HOw come on TV everyday they arrested drug but never seen under ground lottery??

[amykat]

Just a small group of women in my village (approx 10) playing cards in someones home drop the police 6000baht every 10 days to avoid problems.

Wow, what a waste of money ...really ...that would mean they are spending 1800 a month, each, just to have the opportunity to play cards in their own house?? Then they lose more money playing?

A small group of people, can't organize some card games without the police knowing ...along the lines of poker night with a bunch of co-workers in the West?

And some police get 18,000 baht a month in bribes from this small village group of ladies ....I just think that can't be right ...as in, something else is going on or the amount you have been told is a lie?

Edited August 16, 2013 by amykat

[GentlemanJim]

And I thought this article was going to be about "Why" Thai's love to gamble. We all know they do. What causes their gambling addiction?

There is no other way to describe it than the 'lust' for more. It is totally embedded in their culture and spiritual beliefs. They simply want more...and more....then more. It is also what drives corruption and for them it is OK, because it has been delivered to them in their spiritual teachings since they were kids.

Listen to a Thai praying to Buddah? "Please make me rich, please let me win the lottery, please let me make more money etc etc". When I first heard my wife pray I said, don't you think that's a bit selfish and materialistic? She looked at me with one of those keh! looks. I elaborated saying, surely if you are praying to a God, then the road to personal salvation is to pray for others, not yourself, pray for the poor guy next door to win the lottery, pray for the old woman down the road to have something good happen. the penny dropped and that is now what she still does 8 years later. The overwhelming desire for material gain is embedded in Thai's, it is so bad that if YOU win the lottery with a significant amount of money, your neighbors will smile, but secretly despise you for your good luck and their bad luck. Listen to most Monks in the town when they bless you after you give food or perhaps on your birthday. They wish you get good luck and get rich and get lots of money!! Never a word about finding peace and tranquility and spiritual well being, it is ALL about money.

I know all the arguments about make it legal and generate taxes etc, but honestly, if this country ever legalises casino gambling then not just the country, but the people are totally frakked. There are people in the town where I live who have got rich by buying cars and property of people who have run into such large gambling debts that they lose it all.

[hunkydory]

Well, i'm sure you have guessed wrong, most countries will only sell alcohol to over 18 or 21. i can send my seven year old to the shop for whisky and fags here. not in th uk

The youngest "gambler" was a seven-year-old... wow! It makes me wonder how young the little thais start drinking whiskey

About as young as the youngsters in your country, I guess.

Not here either unless you are referring in general to village shops? Same as in the UK, go to a rural shop and they'll even sell you their daughter, same here if you go to a village!

P.S send a 7 yo to buy fags in the UK and he/she will more than likely get mugged on the way, especially carrying that kind of money!

How deluded are u mate (BrianCR). Interested to know where these rural villages are in the UK selling daughters over the counter. I honestly can't think of any western countries selling kids out of local shops. I've seen young kids walk out of shops in Bangkok with fags and a plastic bag of beers or Lao Kao. Stabbings for a few hundred baht, and there's nothing rural about The Kok I can tell you, apart from the mentality. You haven't moved to a better or safer country here, just a warmer one.

[amykat]

Just a small group of women in my village (approx 10) playing cards in someones home drop the police 6000baht every 10 days to avoid problems.

My wife comes from a village just outside Prakhon Chai. We discussed this item and she said that it was very unlikely that a village lady could afford to shell out 1,800 baht every thirty days just for the privilege of losing even more money. Her view is that this is total nonsense.

Sorry, I didn't see this post before I posted myself. Glad to know I am not the only one thinking this too.

[chrisrazz]

Regarding the illigal lottery. One of the evil Taksins' crimes was to make this form of betting on the lottery official, with the governemnt lottery people running it. If memory serves me correctly, there was a significant jackpot that had accumilated that either the lottery department could not cover or disapeared into the ether. During the post coup government this form of the government lottery was deemed illegal itself, no jackpot was forthcoming and the whole business returned into the hands of those who were operating illegally in the first place.

That's kinda interesting, as my gf actually has the completely opposite view.

As one of the things which she really likes about Taksin, even though she's not into gambling at all, was that he made a legal small lottery. Reasons for this being:

1/ It stopped the other small lotteries

2/ The people buying tickets had to pay in cash, so people couldn't get into debt

3/ You couldn't bribe the organisers to rig the numbers for you (or if you could, it was less widespread)

4/ The government was able to tax it (Which she doesn't really care about, but figures it'd be a bonus)

She personally saw a decline in her mother's gambling and level of debt because she couldn't buy tickets on credit. She understands very well that Taksin is corrupt, and assumes that him and his cronies would have been getting a slice of the action somewhere, but pretty much all politicians are corrupt and someone's always getting a slice of the action from everything. The regulation on it was positive for the community, and that's what she cares about.

But yeah, my personal views are that since the law isn't enforced, and police are simply bribed in order to allow illegal casinos etc, everyone knows where the casinos are but no one really cares (we even have one right across the road from us lol). Therefore in my view, the government should simply issue licences for some casinos, they can then tax the casino revenue, and regulate the gambling which is done there. The illegal casinos will then lose significant amounts of business, maybe the legal casinos could even be convinced to assist with bringing down the illegal casinos, as those are their competition. Gambling is just like alcohol and prostitution, it's more efficient and effective to simply regulate it, rather than trying a blanked ban on it.

Sorry if you misunderstood, my reference to the 'evil one' was meant as ironic. This particular policy was cited by those anti as encouraging gambling. A similar post coup policy change was to restrict alcohol sales between certain hours as school kids were drinking beer. Pretty well heeled school kids if you ask me. Then following an outcry from thai business owners this policy then became limited to businesses with foreign interest, ie 711, lotus etc.

[kannot]

The youngest "gambler" was a seven-year-old... wow! It makes me wonder how young the little thais start drinking whiskey

Ingested thru the umbilical no doubt!

[unanimosity]

The youngest "gambler" was a seven-year-old... wow! It makes me wonder how young the little thais start drinking whiskey

Interesting statistic when the survey was of people 15 and over.

[ALFREDO]

My wife is a member of several groups of card players and games are played all the time often for many hours at a stretch. Some significant sums of money can be involved as well.

My GF is a addicted HI LOW (High Low?) player and lost a lot money, borrowed now ect.

Crazy thing and its same the card games, played, in nearly every Thai Isaan Village and even in some Villages in more than one place!

Then police does nothing, supports it, takes bribes and many play themselves!

Even my complaint to the Provincial police head quarter of the Udon Thani province was useless!

(My GF drove around with a Police man and played high stakes in surrounding Villages, with my money! when I was not around!

I should make my complaint at the Amphur police station, with that people who take the bribes and play themselves!?

There is now a new, bigger play ground about 2-3 km from the Amphur police station in the Amphur I live!

Bribe, I hear 30.000 Baht a month!

If my missus was caught gambling or socialising with police she'd be out on her ear with no second chances.

Yes a very valid point indeed.

Than keep in mind,

first, I love her, since 11+ years,

second, when she started Gaming and socializing with police, I was in Cambodia at my Mia Nois place, by the way, a Casino employee with a Gambling habit to!.

Third, I have two young 6 and 9 children with her,

Fourth, As a Adopted child and step fathers early death I grew up without father and that fate have already my first three children.

Now you mix my Psychological problems with my Gfs gambling problem and stop thinking so short sighted.

You cannot clip all over one ridge!

[ALFREDO]

My wife is a member of several groups of card players and games are played all the time often for many hours at a stretch. Some significant sums of money can be involved as well.

My GF is a addicted HI LOW (High Low?) player and lost a lot money, borrowed now ect.

Crazy thing and its same the card games, played, in nearly every Thai Isaan Village and even in some Villages in more than one place!

Then police does nothing, supports it, takes bribes and many play themselves!

Even my complaint to the Provincial police head quarter of the Udon Thani province was useless!

(My GF drove around with a Police man and played high stakes in surrounding Villages, with my money! when I was not around!)

"I should make my complaint at the Amphur police station", I was told! With that people who take the bribes and play themselves!?

There is now a new, bigger play ground, with even more HIGH played games, Hundreds of Thousand of Baht in the hands of players and on the table, I was told!

about 2-3 km from the Amphur police station in the Amphur I live!

Bribe, I hear 30.000 Baht a month!

I was there but stayed in the car and outside the gambling den.

You better buy an amulet quickly. I fear you have created some problems for yourself.

I created it? NO!

Amulet, NO!, Do not believe in that.

But I promised my GF when I am in a bad mood I will drop by the place -in the Village that was before- with a bag of Molotow cocktails,

first I would have to check out where the gasoline filled bottles can well burst in or at the gambling place.

I think I will start training now.

I will tell the judge, as the police was no help, I had to take justice in my hands!

Good possible, that I got shot first at the new BIG gambling place in the Amphur city!

[ALFREDO]

Just a small group of women in my village (approx 10) playing cards in someones home drop the police 6000baht every 10 days to avoid problems.

My wife comes from a village just outside Prakhon Chai. We discussed this item and she said that it was very unlikely that a village lady could afford to shell out 1,800 baht every thirty days just for the privilege of losing even more money. Her view is that this is total nonsense.

200 - 500 Baht a day bribe, depending on the size of the Gambling activities and the number of Gamblers.

Who does not bribe has a hard time of raids continuing until bribes are paid!

The bribes are usually paid by the Gambling Banks - women who have the dice in High - Low.

Amphurs new big place even 1.000+ Baht a day bribe.

So, Ithink just the ONLY 10 women are wrong in that story!

[ALFREDO]

And I thought this article was going to be about "Why" Thai's love to gamble. We all know they do. What causes their gambling addiction?

The possibility to get more money, even get rich fast ! True !

[MAJIC]

Well, i'm sure you have guessed wrong, most countries will only sell alcohol to over 18 or 21. i can send my seven year old to the shop for whisky and fags here. not in th uk

The youngest "gambler" was a seven-year-old... wow! It makes me wonder how young the little thais start drinking whiskey

About as young as the youngsters in your country, I guess.

Not here either unless you are referring in general to village shops? Same as in the UK, go to a rural shop and they'll even sell you their daughter, same here if you go to a village!

P.S send a 7 yo to buy fags in the UK and he/she will more than likely get mugged on the way, especially carrying that kind of money!

Or maybe He/She will meet someone like you coming back from the shop,and talking so much crap,they all roll about on the floor laughing!

[Toscano]

" Phongsathon Chantharassami, manager of the Information Centre for Gambling Control Policy, under the Sodsri-Saridwongsa Foundation, said law enforcement was the key to tackling illegal gambling in the country. Citing a Royal Thai Police report that said police had made 3,988 gambling-related arrests in the first half of this year, Phongsathon said it demonstrated that the current law on gambling was out-of-date and ineffective in tackling the problem."

The Police are some of the most addicted gamblers , so what are they going to do about it ? Probably Nothing !

[DGIE]

Gamblers, If gambling here in Thailand will be totally eradicated, just go to the Philippines.

There, lottery is like legal because you can bet even infront of the policemen.

Cockfighting is number 1 because it is in every part of the country.

You will find this, which the afficionados called it a sports, interesting.

There is what they called Bakbakan Derby which gives a lucrative prizes

to champions and 2nd- 4th Prizes of more than 42,000,000 pesos. The prizes

are getting bigger every year.

Casinos are few but many gamblers from other countries gamble there.

Basketball betting is also popular because of basketball fans.

[rotary]

I know several people who have lost houses, cars and other property over gambling, lotterys, and loan sharks. All of these go together like a puzzle

Edited August 17, 2013 by rotary

[elzach]

True Story, happened 10 minutes ago.

Our Aircron guy has just been round to service a couple of units in the house. He seemed quite happy and I asked if business was good. He said very good, as he had just installed aircon for a big new casino in town ????? I said 'casino', he said yes, looking at me like 'what's the problem'. It turns out that a guy who had been running a casino behind a fortress type wall about 3km outside town has moved into a main building in the town center. I said that was a bit of a ballsy move and then he said something that made my comments totally futile. "Oh no problems he said, his business partners are the two senior policemen in town". I walk off shaking my head looking for the brochure of property in New Zealand. TGIF !

Good info. Young educated Thais read this and they want to get the hell out of Thailand as soon as they can....while we foreigners are getting in. Something to think about.

[stoli]

Funny how the police bust some gamblers but has anyone ever been to a boxing stadium? The police, in uniform, are right there.

Gambling on Muay Thai fighting in Thailand is 100% legal, just like horse racing. Therefore, why shouldn't the police be at the Boxing Stadium.?

[Tanlic]

I'll bet you 5000 baht that gambling in Thailand isn't as big a problem as they make out.

I got it if no one else did.

It is of course rife in Thailand.

.

In most countries in the world it is up to the individual whether he wants to gamble or not. but in Thailand It would seem it's ok to gamble in Thailand as long as you do it with the powers that be. eg The state run lottery/Sunday Horse racing on the tote.

Doesn't take a genius to work out why

l

[HoudiniXLogic]

Oh come on, I see it everyday in the mooban with the local mom n pop, 7 year old going to buy ciggies and whisky for their dad. Mind you the family has a friendly relationship with the shop so if anything, its like asking a kid to do a chore. I mean, I was THAT KID who was 7 or 8 and getting something from the shop for my parents work colleague. How'd I grow up? Pretty much the same as the majority of homies born in 88.