THAILAND: Hardcore Gamblers Tarnish Country’s Buddhist Image

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jun 17 2004 (IPS) - Thailand’s voracious appetite for gambling has not been spoilt despite recent outrage from some quarters over the harmful consequences of this habit.

Since Saturday, Thais in the millions have been demonstrating their passion for gambling by waging bets on the outcome of Euro 2004 – the three-week long European football championship that kicked off over the weekend.

According to the respected Kasikorn Bank Research Centre, an estimated 33 billion baht (800 million U.S. dollars) is expected to be waged in bets during the tournament being hosted in Portugal.

That figure marks a sizeable increase from the money punters dumped in bets during Euro 2000, which was 20 billion baht (488 million U.S. dollars).

It even surpasses the 30 billion baht (732 million U.S. dollars) that Thai gamblers waged during the 2002 World Cup that was hosted in Japan and South Korea, according to the research centre.

But a poll by the Assumption University, here, has revealed that gambling cuts across all age barriers.

Among the youngest would be children in schools and university students, it stated.

An estimated 300,000 high school and college students are expected to punt their way into winnings or debts during the three- week long sporting event, the Assumption University poll declared.

”No one doubts there is a huge gambling culture here. It is big in schools,” Chris Baker, an author on political and economic issues in Thailand, told IPS.

According to a 43-year-old Thai who spoke on condition of anonymity, gambling happens in ”every setting I know, in companies, in offices, in schools and between people using hand phones.”

”It is important to know the ‘agent’,” he told IPS, referring to the person who accepts bets on behalf of the leading organisers in the vast gambling network that thrives as an underground industry.

”Those who gamble know these agents,” he added. ”And the amount they offer for the bets depend on the strength of their connections in society. The more powerful ones guarantee a better return.”

On Monday, police arrested one such bookmaker, Sinsamroeng Akkarasmiyo, who had accepted bets up to 260,400 baht (6,353 U.S. dollars) on the Euro 2004.

According to ‘The Nation’ daily newspaper, the 44-year-old Sinsamroeng had admitted that his income from gambling was far higher than what he made in his legitimate job – selling noodles on the street.

Gambling is illegal in Thailand and violators can face a one-year prison sentence.

In a bid to crackdown on gambling, the Ministry of Justice this week warned that it would seize the assets of gamblers under the country’s anti-money laundering laws.

Authorities have also succeeded in shutting down 11 gambling web sites that offer the latest odds on each game. The police are also monitoring phone conversations of suspected gambling agents.

Yet newspapers that have welcomed these actions are quick to lament at the losing battle officials are up against.

”The police action is not going to stop people gambling,” said the Thai language daily ‘Khao Sod’ in an editorial on Wednesday.

”We must tackle the problem at its roots, which is connected to the worship of money in Thai society,” commented the newspaper.

Thailand’s gambling sickness is easily understood when it comes to the amount of money Thais spend annually as punters in a range of events served up by the underground gambling network – from football betting to visits to casinos in neighbouring Cambodia and Burma.

According to studies done by Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, the yearly amount lost by gamblers tops 500 billion baht (12.2 billion U.S. dollars).

Besides that, close to a third of this South-east Asian country’s 63 million people are drawn to various opportunities ripe for gambling – anything ranging from Thai kick-boxing to cockfighting.

Yet as the administration of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discovered, governments dare not tap into this Thai passion as a source for raising money nor bet on winning support for legalising an aspect of gambling – namely casinos.

The reason is that it would violate the noble precepts of Buddhism – the dominant religion of Thailand.

In May, Thaksin was criticised heavily from a section of Thai society for his plan to conduct a lottery through a savings bank to raise 115 million U.S. dollars to buy a 30 percent owning stake in Britain’s Liverpool football club.

It would have encouraged gambling and violated Buddhist precepts, some of Thaksin’s critics said here over the weekend at a seminar organised by the Buddhist Network for Buddhism and Thai Society.

Such concern echoed the voices raised against the government last year, when the Thaksin administration toyed with the idea of legalising casinos.

It was ”contrary to Buddhism and a threat to society,” the non- governmental Campaign for Popular Democracy declared at that time.

Consequently, the government shelved plans to grant licences for casinos to function legally here.

This week, also, Thaksin said he had abandoned all ideas, using the sale of lottery tickets, to buy the British football club.

”The tales of the Buddha are full of messages that gambling is the way to suffering and unhappiness, while Buddhism is about trying to liberate yourself from suffering,” Subhadr Panyadeep, director of the Institute for Training and Curriculum Development at the Bangkok-based World Buddhist University, told IPS.

”Gambling and Buddhism are not easy to reconcile, to co-exist,” he added.

According to Venerable Dhammananda, Thailand’s only female Buddhist monk, the message from the prevailing reality is stark.

”This means we are not true Buddhists, although 95 percent of the country calls themselves Buddhist,” she said.

”Our society is heading downwards,” she added during an interview.

But Baker, who has authored books on Thai politics and economics, doubts that Buddhist voices would have their way on gambling. ”If a vote was conducted, I am sure gambling would win,” he said.