The long awaited Thai Online lottery finally got the green light from the Thai government last week. The outcome of the announcement means that the Government Lottery Office may now go ahead with their plans to implement the online version of this popular Thai lottery.

Implementation could take between 4-6 months providing the GLO gives its formal approval.

The format of the online lottery is to be the same as the current paper-based draw and retain six digit numbers. Some 12,000 lottery ticket vending machines will be approved with an initial installation of 5000.

Tickets for the Thai online lottery will be priced at 40 Baht.

I don’t watch much Thai TV but there is one reality show that I do enjoy. It often carries weird and wonderful stories like in the case of the Thai lottery and the water jar.

Now the actual story line of the documentary was about a woman’s murder at the village of Ao Noi which is only about 12km from my home in Thailand. The poor ladies body had been hidden in one of the large concrete water jars that Thais use to store rain water and was subsequently discovered in a decomposed state.

So how was a gruesome murder linked to the Thai lottery?

Well in order to remove the body from the jar the police had to break the concrete which only left about a half of the jar intact.  the film showed that some local people had built a bit of an improvised shrine around the remains of the jar and could be seem praying, lighting candles and making other offerings.

As the scene unfolded  some more individuals were seen to be rubbing the remains of the water container.  The commentator went on to explain realise that the guys rubbing the jar were trying to get lucky numbers to appear in the concrete, predictions for the next Thai Lottery draw!

Unfortunately the TV didn’t show any numbers appearing in the concrete so if you want some Thai Lottery predictions for the next draw you will have to find another way of making your predictions.

This story is true and tells of how a Tokay Gecko predicted a Thai Lottery winning number. It is also about how I found out about the illegal lottery that also runs alongside the official one here in Thailand. The gecko in the story lives in the roof of my house in Thailand. For anyone who doesn’t know the Tokay has a very loud distinctive call that is not unlike the sound of a Cuckoo.

The first time I ever saw the Tokay Gecko I was quite excited since he is a big reptile and quite brightly coloured. I called to my Thai partner to bring my camera and managed to get a picture. We stood and watched the creature for a while when all of a sudden my partner announced that it was a lucky omen and that we should enter the number 50 in the next Thai lottery.

I asked about the number and was told it was because  the geckos tail was curled like a zero and it was resting on his five toes.

I didn’t think much more about the conversation since I am fairly used to such things living here in Thailand. Later that week we were on the beach when a Thai lottery ticket seller approached. “OK you buy ticket 50,”  my friend exclaimed in an excited way. Well he(the seller) didn’t have a ticket ending in 50 but since I didn’t want to disappoint her I purchased one ending in 05. Well its the same numerals after all. My partner was not amused, “the ticket is no good.” I thought about asking why she hadn’t said that before I spent my 120 Baht but didn’t bother and simply pocketed my purchase.

When the next Thai lottery draw took place I checked the numbers online while my partner watched. Suddenly she started jumping up and down, “I’ve won I’ve won, I’ve won” she shouted repeatedly.  Now there is a prize for the last two digits on your ticket, which would you believe it was actually 50 but of course I had purchased a ticket with 05 at the end, so no luck there.

“But we haven’t won we have 05 at the end of our ticket!”  I explained patiently.  “You haven’t, I told you the ticket was no good.” “How come you’ve won?” I asked hoping to mask my sarcastic tone. My partner looked at me as if I should have known the answer, but told me anyway. “I bought a ticket for lottery in village  and chose 50 so I have won.”

She then went on to explain that in common with most areas in Thailand there is an illegal lottery run by a local bookmaker that uses the official winning numbers to allocate prizes. Here people chose two or three number combinations to win the prizes. The odds are calculated based on the stake you put down.

As it happened based on her 20 Baht stake she had actually won 1000Baht. Not a bad return given that a Tokay Gecko provided the inspiration

Thailand is always awash with rumours many of which often involve the Thai Lottery. Last year one rumour circulating was about an impending earthquake.

My neighbours predicted that there was to be a major earthquake in the area of Thailand. As it happened this prediction turned out to be true but there was not just one but two earthquakes recorded in the region on the predicted doomsday.

The earthquakes, one in the Indian Ocean measured between 7.3 on the Richter Scale and one centred around the Kanchanaburi area of Thailand measured 3.7 on the same scale.

Knowing that the Thais will seek lucky numbers in the most unusual places I decided to suggest that the combination of numbers in the earthquakes magnitude seemed to indicate something. Perhaps a lucky number was being flagged up seeing as the Thai Lottery was due to be drawn in a couple of days anyway. To be honest it was just a joke on my part but it sounded a lot more scientific than staring at a piece of wood or rubbing an artefact to get a lottery prediction. Anyway I needed something to regain my loss of face since I had laughed at my neighbours suggestion of an impending earthquake. .

Knowing my Thai partner cannot resist the temptation of the Thai lottery I casually suggested that 73 might be a lucky number for her too use for the last two digits of the ticket I knew she would be buying.

I sat back and waited. Later in the day when I checked the lottery results online I found to my surprise that 73 was indeed the two figure payout.

“Did you check the lottery results,” I enquired when my partner arrived home. “Yes I haven’t won,” she responded somewhat deflated.

“Can I see your tickets?” “yes but I haven’t won, here you look.”

She was of course quite right, she hadn’t won, but she had used 37 for the two digits at the end of the ticket she had bought instead of the 73 I suggested!

“Why didn’t you follow my advice and get a ticket ending in 73,” I casually asked. “What do you know about lucky numbers, you’re not Thai,” was her rather blunt reply.