Gambling in Thailand

Have you ever gambled? If you said that you have never, even a little, then I am sure you must be lying. But if you really really mean it, you must be one in a million who has never gambled. I don’t think I will be able to do the same as you. I can say that most people I know have gambled. Some of them do it as part of their life. I have gambled sometimes but only for fun. Whenever I played and I started to lose a lot, I stopped before I lost any more. I won’t take a risk because I have seen before about some people who tried to win their money back. In the end, they will have nothing.

I like to play cards and the game I play is called “Pok Daeng”. On my last holiday, I went to Nongkhai province with my family and family’s friends. We went there by bus. My parents and my mum’s friends sat right at the back of the tour bus. It wasn’t that near to go to Nongkhai, it took us quite a long time to get there. Luckily it isn’t that boring to be in a bus for a long time if you have something to do. I was sleeping in the bus and when I woke up, I saw that my mum and her friends were playing cards, “Pok Daeng“. I thought they were playing it for fun so I went to play with them. But when I went to look closely, they were betting money as well so I realized that they were gambling. First, I decided not to play because I don‘t like gambling. So I just sat there and watched them play but finally I couldn’t stop myself from playing. I was bored and didn’t know what to do, so I decided to play with them. Anyway, the bets were only 5 baht each.

I played cards with my mum’s friends for a very long time, long enough to feel sleepy. I just played for fun so I didn’t take it so seriously and at last when everyone was very tired, I counted my money. I was shocked so I counted it again and again but it came out with the same number every time. I couldn’t believe that even though I just played for fun that I lose quite a lot. I lost about 400 baht. It was gone so fast. I should have thought about what my mum told me. She warned me before I played that this game is easy in different ways: easy come, easy go. If you are lucky you will get a lot but if you don’t have any good luck, you will lose a lot just in a second.

I learned how to play “Pok Daeng” when I was a kid. It is very popular and easy to play. It is the game that most Thai people play when they want to gamble. However, when I was younger I didn’t know that it was illegal. I didn’t even know it was gambling. The game has no limits about how many people can play. You have two cards each then you can ask for one more later, if you want. The winner is the person whose card value is nearest to nine. f you have more than that then you have to start to count from one again. This game is really up to your luck, not skill. You don’t have to use any of your skills when you play this game.

It was not right for us to play the cards on the tour bus because we could get caught by the police easily. But no one seemed to care about getting caught, they just played as they wanted. I think it’s maybe because getting caught from playing cards isn’t that big of a deal. Even if you bet money on it, some police might be too lazy to catch you. Anyway, you are taking a risk when you play cards. You might end up in prison for one night at least. And that is why I sometimes tease my uncle or aunt by shouting “police, police” which makes them jump out of their skin!

I will be writing more about gambling next week. I will talk about other kinds of illegal gambling as well as how students gamble at school. Find out how one of my friends lost a lot of money and nearly ended up in hospital.

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This is the uncut version of Panrit’s article that first appeared in his Gor’s World column in the Bangkok Post when he was 16 years old. We will be posting his full versions every Sunday for him while he is still in prison. Read more about Gor at his website www.ThailandLife.com.