Survey Reveals Large Numbers of Illegal Gamblers in Thailand

A survey carried out by Thailand’s Centre for Gambling Studies together with the Centre for Social and Business Development has revealed that the majority of people in Thailand have been betting. According to the results, 57% of Thai people have placed a bet in the previous 12 months, despite many forms of gambling being outlawed.

In Thailand, it’s only legal to take part in the lottery that’s run by the state and to place bets on horse-racing. However, the survey found that many of the bets that people were admitting to didn’t fall into either of these categories, being instead classed as illegal gambling.

Extensive population involved in illegal gambling 

The survey was originally carried out in 2017, and the latest results show that gambling has continued to climb in the intervening years. In 2017, 54.2% of the Thai population admitted to gambling, a number which has steadily increased to 57% today.

The survey was based on 44050 taking part, all of whom were aged 15 and over. When applying the same proportion of results to the whole population, it suggests that around 30.4 million people take part in gambling.

It wasn’t all abut illegal gambling as government lotteries were the most popular form of betting with 22.7 million taking part. However, that was closely followed by 17.4 million playing on illegal lotteries and 4.4 million admitted to betting on cards.

Football bets were lower than all of these with just 3.5 million participating. However, it was the category with the largest overall spend of £4.3 billion in 2019. Although the most numerous, legal lotteries generated the least revenue with players spending less compared to other kinds of bets.

Legal lotteries used as a gateway 

The government lotteries saw the largest increase in the number of players with 1.3 million more taking part compared to in the past. However, as a percentage dice games climbed the highest with an 82% rise.

The survey found that legal gambling on stat-run lotteries was often a gateway that led to illegal gambling. Around 27% of people moved into illegal lotteries next, with approximately 23% trying illegal betting on cards first.

Online gambling still remains relatively uncommon compared to other types of betting in the country. Just 1.6% said they had gambled online, but out of those that did baccarat was the most popular choice.

Half of all gamblers begin by the age of 20, with one individual in the survey claiming to have started betting aged just 7.