I talked before about “Pok Deng” which is a card game that even young children can play. It is small time gambling. The bet could start from a few baht up to whatever you want. But really if someone wants to gamble with lots of money, they usually go to a higher level game which is more serious and strict. The famous one I know and see often is football. But really there are others as well. For example: horse racing, boxing, racing, cock fighting, fish fighting etc. I read somewhere recently that about 70 percent of adults gamble so you can see that even though it is mainly illegal, a lot of people are doing it.

It is not only adults gambling, there are also thousands of students in different schools from all over the country doing it. Most of them do it because they think they can get money quickly and easily. But they don’t think about what would happen when they lose and they then have to pay the bookee. If you didn’t pay the bookee on time, at first you might just get beaten up by them or if it has been a long time you might get shot. Some people might not believe about what I just said but you know what, I didn’t believe it when I first heard it too. I started to believe when it happened to one of my friends. Now, I will tell you what happened to him.

My friend’s name is Tum and he is addicted to gambling. He likes to gamble on football and he usually wins. At first, he didn’t put so much money on the matches but later he started to place bigger and bigger bets. One day he was so positive about a football match that he decided that he would try being a bookee. So, he allowed other people to come to him to place bets. He also placed his own bet at a bigger bookee. But after the match finished, his team didn’t win and he lost lots of money. After he worked out how much he lost, it came to about 20,000 baht.

He came and asked to borrow some money from me but at that time I didn’t have much money so I gave him only 300 baht. A few days later, I met him by the market with lots of bruises on his face and body. He said he had got beaten up by those people he gambled with. He said next time they were going to shoot him if he didn’t give the money to them. I told him to tell his parents but he said he was too scared to tell them. So I called his parents and told them about the money and what happened. They were shocked. Then I took Tum home to meet his parents.

The next day Tum rang and told me that his parents went to borrow the money from the bank for him. Then he went to pay those people and now everything was OK except for the money his parents need to give back to the bank. He also said he will come to pay my 300 baht back too. I said thanks and asked him will you gamble again? He said he will never do it again. I told him I’ll wait and see.

What happened to Tum scared most of my friends who like gambling. Some of them stopped doing it but there are some who are still doing it. Maybe they will continue until they get caught by the police or beaten up by the bookee.

Gambling on football is illegal the same as other things. But there are some things you can gamble on and it’s legal if you do it in a certain place. For example: Horse Racing. There is a place in Bangkok for you to go to watch and do the gambling but only inside the stadium. If you gamble outside, they will say that it’s illegal and you will get caught by the police.

One day, I read in the newspaper about gambling. They talked about making gambling legal. It was quite a big thing they talked about. I was really interested in this news. I’ll tell you what they said about gambling.

There are different ideas from different people about gambling. Some people think it should be OK to gamble on something they want. They argued that the police can’t really control the gambling. But if the government make it legal and bring it out in the open, it will be much easier for the police to control it. Also, the government can make money for the country out of it instead of nothing.

I agree with those people. I have thought about it and I think that what they said is right. I can see their point of view and I think it’s a nice thing. It’s is good that they also thought about the country as well and not only themselves. At least, they aren’t selfish and not trying to get the money in their own pocket.

I also listened to the reasons why some people are against letting gambling become legal. Most people in Thailand are Buddhist but gambling goes against what the Buddha teaches. If you make it legal, you might ruin the values of Thai society. Also, gambling is an unacceptable activity especially for young people. It could make them addicted to it as easy as drugs.

I also agree with these people. I am a Thai person and a Buddhist who believes in the precepts. I know and understand these people as much as I understand the others. They both have their own good points so at first I couldn’t really decide which one to agree with the most.

But after I thought about it again properly, I think I agree with the one that try to make it legal. Not that I am addicted to gambling but if you think properly you will know why I chose this side. It’s all because I thought about the future, not the present. We are in the technology age but Thailand is not really that far ahead yet. I think it is all because we are too strict to the Buddha precepts. We should let go of some of the precepts and be more open to the world. That’s what I think, what about you?

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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. Read more about Gor at his website www.ThailandLife.com.