11. The lottery
Oct 12, 2004
The first time Bangkokians were ever able to have a flutter on
something akin to a lottery was with the “huay”, which appeared
in 1835, in King Rama III’s time.
It was introduced by wealthy Chinese trader Jao Sua Hong, who had
been appointed Phra Sichaiyaban. Jao Sua Hong borrowed the idea
from China: 44 tickets under the same title, with 44 Thai letters,
from kor kai and khor khai to hor nok hook. It was known as “huay
korkhor”.
The method of play was similar to that of any lottery. A designated
banker would pluck the winning ticket at random from a large bag,
and those with matching inscriptions won a prize.
The first huay house was situated at the foot of what is now Damrong
Sathit Bridge on Charoen Krung Road, and the whole area was jammed
on ticketdrawing days. Gambling was enormously popular, and huay
houses soon popped up all over the city, each one paying vast annual
taxes to the government.
Rama III had agreed to the opening of the first huay house because
the cost of living had skyrocketed due to widespread flooding in
1831 and a severe drought in 1832. As well, he wanted an end to
the opium trade, and to rid his people of the habit ordered stores
of the drug burned, while at the same time sanctioning Jao Sua Hong's
huay house as an alternative diversion.
The success of the huay business only increased as time went on.
In Rama IV's day, it extended into Phetchaburi and Ayutthaya. Rama
V planned to proscribe the huay that caused his subjects to live
in poverty. He improved the huay houses, giving them a more European
flavour, and ultimately allowed the government to sell tickets –
named “lottery” tickets for the first time instead of “huay”. The
first government lottery took place in 1874.
In 1916, King Rama VI formally banned the huay, and the following
year, as World War I raged, he suggested a government lottery to
raise money.
The modern Government Lottery Office was established in 1939, in
the reign of Rama VIII, but Thailand to this day has never managed
to fully eradicate the illegal lottery.
Nithinand Yorsaengrat
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