Half a million Thai students 'involved in gambling'

[webfact]

'Half a million students involved in gambling'
THE NATION

Academics call for help, want phone operators to block access to websites

BANGKOK: -- MANY university students are addicted to gambling and some use money borrowed from the Student Loan Fund (SLF) to fuel their habit, a network of academics who monitor gambling revealed during a seminar yesterday.

They urged officials to seriously tackle the issue, suggesting that cellphone operators be asked to help by blocking youths' access to gambling websites.

Surachai Chupaka, a professor of mass communications at Ramkhamhaeng University, cited a 2012-2013 study of university students' gambling habits, sponsored by Sodsri-Saridwongsa Foundation, that 500,000 students took part in gambling - mostly football betting or playing cards.

A field study to survey students' gambling problems at eight universities nationwide found many self-destructive cases. For example, a football athlete was caught stealing valuables from dorms to fund his football-betting habit, and a group of students rotated to host card games at rented houses or dorm rooms, while some joined their parents to pool tens of thousand of baht for betting.

Surachai said: "There was a case of a female student using her SLF loan money to bet on football matches until she had no money to pay for tuition and had to drop out. The gambling students told us that while they had fun they also suffered immense stress."

Many university personnel were also found to buy underground lottery tickets on a regular basis.

Dhurakij Pundit University Peace Centre lecturer Atichat Tancharoen said his university encountered gambling in alcohol outlets near college dormitories. The university invited business operators and state officials to talk and sign an agreement to control booze outlets under the "Campus Safety Zone" project to bring order via a "social partnership" to help students graduate successfully.

"As for gambling, we used to have football betting where students bet on papers, but now it goes online where detection of gambling-addicted students is hard. In an inspection of dorms, we found students' ATM cards left at the bookies because they'd lost in betting. Most of the money in ATMs was from SLF loans," he added.

Mana Phrommee, head of Prince of Songkla University's Student Discipline and Development Services Division, said his talks with students facing disciplinary punishment for gambling showed that the most popular form was online football betting. The university initially reacted by blocking wi-fi connection access to gambling websites.

"If possible, I'd like to propose that cellphone signal operators block access to gambling websites. This do-able initial move would lessen temptation to gamble," he said.

With some print and television media openly reporting football betting odds, he felt they should review such action because it promotes students' interest in gambling. The government should help solve this issue - together with tackling young people's drinking of alcohol, smoking and drug abuse.

The academics' comments were made at a third seminar to discuss ways to minimise gambling, held at the Public Health Ministry's National Health Commission Office in Nonthaburi.

Public policy manager of the National Health Foundation's Centre for Gambling Control, Pongsathon Chanrassami said that recommended solutions would be put to the Office of Higher Education Commission so such issues could be tackled. Proposals include setting up anti-gambling networks in campuses with participation from local communities, plus the public and private sector.

The Council of University Presidents should boost cooperation with media associations by establishing a "Media Ombud-sman" system to check reports that might directly boost gambling among students. And the National Broadcasting and Telecommuni-cations Commission would also be urged to ask cellphone signal operators to block access to gambling websites, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Half-a-million-students-involved-in-gambling-30274474.html


-- The Nation 2015-12-08

[AlexRRR]

I would assume the tax grab on gambling would be similar to a place like Australia, until governments realise that certain preoccupations like gambling smoking and alcohol addiction actually cost the tax payer more than what they receive from it you can only expect problems.

We had an advert here in AU claiming it un Australian to not have a bet, now i ask you who let this through? We are here now starting to see children and teens thinking its normal to bet on football and anything else going.

[aussiesteve63]

I would assume the tax grab on gambling would be similar to a place like Australia, until governments realise that certain preoccupations like gambling smoking and alcohol addiction actually cost the tax payer more than what they receive from it you can only expect problems.

We had an advert here in AU claiming it un Australian to not have a bet, now i ask you who let this through? We are here now starting to see children and teens thinking its normal to bet on football and anything else going.

I read yesterday AlexRRR that Australians spent 6.5 billion dollars last financial year on different forms of gambling, Pleased to say I wasn't one of them

But have to admit buying the odd lottery ticket here in the Los when the wife wakes up after having one of those "dreams"

Edited December 7, 2015 by aussiesteve63

[Somtamnication]

Bull. My students gamble with those god-for-saken candy cards from P1 on wards. More like 2 million. They start early in Thailand.

[apetley]

If our village is anything to go by they can add 'and most adults play the illegal mafia lotto'.

[Marcusv]

Thais love gambling and so do the government. They make hafty tax payments from online sites. They play the good guy game and arrest house parties. Not due to there love of the people. They do becuase there cut out of the loop

As they say nothing is what it seems here.

Keep smiling

[LannaGuy]

bet they're not!

bit of 'figure inflating going on thai style'? just like 'millions on the streets Suthep'? or 'millions upset at USA Issara'?

Edited December 8, 2015 by LannaGuy

[digibum]

The problem isn't gambling. The problem is lack of oversight. You're always going to have problem gamblers. Just like you're always going to have problem drinkers. The entire idea that you need to ban it because a small percentage of the population cannot engage in the activity responsibly is backwards.

Most academic research in the EU, US, and Australia puts problem gamblers at anywhere from 2% up to about 10% depending on how one defines problem gambling.

And the hypocrisy in all of this is that nearly every government that bans gambling for reasons of morality, gladly offers lotteries which the state benefits from. There is no form of gambling with worse offs than the lottery. None.

Could gambling be offered in Thailand responsibly? Probably not. The government itself is far too corrupt to administer it. But the problem here is not the people gambling, rather it is:

The fact that the government is too corrupt to run a proper regulatory environment which licenses gambling

There exists no system which aids problem gamblers. Both because it is underground which prevents responsible gaming throttles that the casino must enforce as well as industry funded assistance programs to help gamblers

[tribalfusion001]

Students who like a bet are the new bogeyman 555

[ronwparker]

I am not surprised it is inthe cuklture but can they afford it?

[madmitch]

Thais love gambling and so do the government. They make hafty tax payments from online sites. They play the good guy game and arrest house parties. Not due to there love of the people. They do becuase there cut out of the loop

As they say nothing is what it seems here.

Keep smiling

The Thai Government does not permit online gambling so it's impossible for it to tax them!

[bangon04]

At least Thai students are not risking their exam results. No gambling involved in that .

[crazykopite]

It's a no win situation by banning gambling it goes underground which then encourages it even more , then on the other side you have the government allowing gambling by way of the lottery which you can buy a ticket legally . They gamble on bull fighting , cock fighting , EPL football, as well as many other forms . In my humble opinion the Thai government would be better by allowing gambling they then could control it a lot better !

[zyphodb]

And virtually the whole of the rest of the population playing the government lottery, but thats OK because its money going into the trough...

Makes me laugh, given the amount of corruption in this country what are the odds of the gov. lottery not being "fixed" anyway???

[connda]

The moral decadence of Thai youth. They need to build more jails and lock these gambling addicts up.

/sarc off

[Borzandy]

Maybe they compensate the lack of education.

[fang37]

At least they are learning something now.

[Stokakrishna]

thats what thai students get their masters at and only in that subject

[Jim walker]

I bet it is not half a million and this is a total concocted out of someones lucky numbers.

[farangmick]

Making gambling illegal just gives it more frisson for the participants, whether they are students or a poor group of village women playing for a 100 baht pot, just waiting for the police to burst in, and seize all the money (no receipt). I equate it to underage drinking in England when I was young many years ago. When we hit 18, quite a few of my friends stopped. They only drank because of the thrill of being illegal. Surely it can't be hard to allow gambling up to a certain sum, beyond which debts are not enforceable, so no one can throw the chanote for the farm into the pot.