According to the poll of 2010 World Football, almost 70% of the football fans get excited by betting on the World Football, and readily spending their salaries - school allowances - on football gambling to try their luck. Keeping watch on the event shows that 50% of most of the World Football viewers readily put their bets on the listed gabling tables. The next popular way of betting is through agents. 22% of shops where live broadcasts are watched are not concerned with running out of cash as more money can be raised. Nearly 20% keep a close watch on every pair of players. Close to 40%bet on popular players. Networks for long-term campaign will be set up for strict control of gambling. A document asking for strict control of Thailand’s gambling law will be submitted to four ministries.

The Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), together with the network for campaigning against gambling, has organized activities in the ground of Central Ladprao Department Store, to give information on “Cheer football without gambling” by Mrs. Kiratika Paenglad, representative for Coordination of Parents’ Network in School Administration. Mrs. Kiratika Paenglad said that the network together with ThaiHealth and the Research Centre for Community Happiness, Assumption University, has carried out a survey on “Behaviour and Opinions of Betting on the 2010 World Football”. The survey shows that in Bangkok, Chonburi, Nakorn Srithammarat, Chiangmai, Songkhla, between 4th and 14th Of May, 2010, there were 2,541 people in the 12-60 year old group watching the World Football. In the past twelve months 10.1% of the population have regularly followed the World Football event, and 40.6% have watched it occasionally. The types of media used, are television, 97.9%, inter-net, 14.8%, radio, 9.1%, and mobile phone, 4.3%.

“66.1% of the sample group will continue to watch and cheer their favourite teams. 18.1% said they watch every football match, whereas 15.8% will watch only important football matches. Most people watch the world football at their own home. 49.1 intend to watch it with friends, 41.7% will follow the event with their families, while 37.7% prefer to enjoy it on their own. During the world football season, 5 types of cost expected to increase are, 1) electricity, 2) snacks, newspapers/magazines, 4) alcoholic drinks, 5) purchase of postcards/printouts for betting results. When asked about their gambling habit in the past 12 months, 41% of the sample group admitted that they gamble, and mostly they buy illegal lottery tickets, 23.1% play cards, 10.4% bet on football, 10.3% play high-low, and 2.6% play “Numtao Poo Pla (น้ำเต้าปูปลา)”, Mrs. Kiratika explained.

Mrs. Kiratika Paenglad said that 16.6% of the questionnaire respondents used to bet on football, more than half of them or 53.8% still bet on football. The reasons for gambling are: enjoyment of cheering, 68.6%; following friends/families/lovers, 37.1% and; wanting money, 23.8%. 50.9% of the sample put their bets on gambling tables, 32.7% via betting agents, 14.5% of the football fans bet among themselves at entertainment centres where the world football matches are broadcast, 13.1% use telephones at their football tables for betting, and 9.1% put their bets via internet on the football players whom they expect to win .

“With regard to money sources for gambling, 76.7% use their salaries, 21.6% put their savings on betting the world football matches, 13.4% of young people admit to gambling with their allowances from their parents. What is worrying is that 22% of the surveyed young people stress that if they spend all their allowances on football gambling, but the football games still continue they will acquire more money even if it means borrowing. 37.6% of these young people have seen for themselves other people gambling. 28.5% of the survey group have friends of people who are close to them gambling on football. They said they have seen some unsuitable behaviours, such as telling lies/deceiving their friends for money for gambling. 21.2 % of them have to sell their cars/houses to pay their gambling debts. 4.3%, 4.1% resort to theft, 3.2% divorce and, 2.9% swindle their companies.

Mr. Thanakorn Komklit, coordinator of networks for campaign against gambling, stated that children and teenagers have caused much concern. According to the statistics of the Royal Thai Police, in the previous world football event, 25% of secondary school students gambled. It is believed that this year football betting tend to increase. By surfing “betting on football” on the internet, 326,000 items appear. Through spontaneous networking, family networks, youth networks, alcohol abstention networks, pineapple agriculturist networks, from 8 provinces, Odonthani, Ubonratchsima, Mahasarakam, Uthaithani, Nan, Chiangrai, Lumpang, and Supangburi, will submit their petitions to, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, and Royal Thai Police, for their help to closely follow up the issue.

“Campaigns for discouraging and giving up gambling must be serious. Since Thailand’s gambling Act has been in use for a long time, it should be reviewed, improved, together with different measures. Having campaign networks will induce studies and researches to systematically solve gambling problems, and to build in Thai people immunity to gambling. Information can be obtained and application for secret cyber for keeping watch on problems relating to gambling on football can be made via website at http://www.stop/glambling.com

Source: Thai Health Promotion Foundation