Crazy about gambling
Thai love gokken. Perhaps because they believe that all of life seems like a gamble. That starts at birth. Will father stay with mother or will he die prematurely in an accident on his motorcycle? Doesn't mother drink herself into her collar too often? Does dad have a 'gig' (girlfriend in bed), or does mom earn extra money in a 'beer bar'?
Anyway, Thai life seems marked by uncertainties, especially in the absence of a social and financial safety net. Getting rich should be done on your own, preferably with the help of faith, hope and love. So gambling, the state lottery or card games, but they are in fact just as dependent on luck.
There is a lot of superstition involved in choosing the right ticket from the lottery. That is, the number of flowers in the garden multiplied by the number on the car's license plate, minus the age of the mother-in-law. Or the like. At a famous temple in Bangkok, men and women rub special oil on the bark of a tree and then think they see a number.
Gambling and card games are surrounded by the same fuss. Certain clothes are sure to bring good luck, as well as some 'lucky money' from a wife or partner. Playing with the man's genitals also seems to bring a lot of happiness, at least for the man in question. Monks play a questionable role in the whole thing, often as purveyors of jars of beeswax mixed with 'something. The player has to put a little bit of it in the hair…
'It is remarkable that card players refuse a pregnant participant, fearing her 'two pairs of eyes'. Some players don't go to the table because they dreamed about water or a snake at night.
However, there is one problem. Gambling and card games for money are in Thailand strictly forbidden. This in contrast to surrounding countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Burma. Many border towns therefore see hundreds of Thai people moving to the casinos in neighboring countries every day.
To answer the call for luck, some Thais operate illegal casinos. Each month this costs the participants a substantial contribution to the 'pension fund' of the nearest police station. Some players not only lose their money, but also motorcycle, gold chains, watch and whatnot.
The gamble starts even before birth.
Sometime during pregnancy (according to the Buddhists) the soul enters.
Then, as a child without a soul, you just have to wait and see whether that is a soul with a lot of good karma, or whether that is a soul with bad karma with all the misery that entails.
That, by the way, immediately raises the question for me, when a Christian fetus gets its soul.
Gambling starts before conception: did I get her pregnant or is he/she from someone else…or she thinks: who would be the father….
and the 2nd guess : is it a girl or a boy.
Only later can both be checked: won or lost
I also see this gambling behavior in the Netherlands. And especially many Thais from Isaan. Playing cards in which the highest final number under ten with two or three cards is the winner. The numbers of the cards are added up. Suppose you have 8+9 = 17, then 7 is the final number. If someone has 8, they have won. I looked at it and saw that it was moving at a breakneck pace and that at the end of the evening between 500 and 2000 euros had changed hands. Then you are no longer in your right mind. And that 2 to 3 times a week with plenty of fluids. That's just tough gambling. And those wives just work. Do they know about it? I have no idea. And the funny thing is that on balance they don't actually get much out of it because next time the person who lost last time wins. It's just pumping money around. Unless one is smart enough not to come back after a big win. After such a hefty profit, some people (supposedly) quickly go on holiday to Thailand. But then the entire group revolts and there is a lot of arguing among themselves and there is some gossip about the person in question.
And don't forget how cheating is done with marked cards newcomers are framed as something you can make a lot of money with, and all the gold pledged to usury is congratulations on your response.
michael c
Hans, do you find your introductory explanation why the Thai are so fond of gambling very generalizing and needlessly offensive.
And a Farang loses his house because of his gambling Thai girlfriend.
It is striking how much is gambled in the Wats.
-A cup with sticks, which is rattled back and forth into a stick with
number rolls out. That number corresponds to a note, which predicts something.
-A disk that starts spinning when money is put into it. It stops at a number,
who predicts something.
Given the many other possibilities, it must be a prosperous and richly blessed people.
What do you think all illegal casinos in Thailand itself.
Leam Chabang, Bang Sean, Mataput there are those illegal casinos where gambling is very rough with only 3 dice. Many Thais become very unhappy there because they go into debt for gambling.
Gold, car, even their own house is gambled there.
The police in Thailand are fine with it by closing their eyes and pocketing the tee_money.
There are also a lot of farangs who gamble: they wait for a good rate of the euro before they exchange that euro for bahts. In other words, they think they can see into the future. And that is exactly the quality that Thai gamblers also attribute to themselves: clairvoyance.
In my and extended Thai family there is no one who gambles. My Thai wife even thinks it's zoned to spend money on the Lottery. So much for "all Thai gambling".