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8 Jun 2006

Thai Economy

2006 World Cup: Wagers of THB37 Billion Despite Sluggish Economy

คะแนนเฉลี่ย

The long-awaited World Cup - the biggest sporting event every four years, will this year be hosted by Germany between June 9 and July 9. The tournament will feature 64 matches played by 32 participating teams. Broadcast time in Thailand will begin at around 20.00 hrs. for the first match, followed by the second and third matches at 23.00 and 02.00 hrs., respectively. This will be in contrast to the last tournament co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, when the competition was mainly broadcast during daytime hours. As a result, the main beneficiaries of the World Cup will be printing and advertising, instant foods and fast foods, alcoholic beverages, and soft drinks, not to mention restaurants and entertainment venues that are expected to cash in on rising sales, thanks to an increasing number of customers who want to cheer their favorite teams at these venues. However, the downside of this greatest sporting event is football gambling, commonly found in communities, educational institutions and in dormitories. This will result in surging social problems, i.e., family brawls, crime, robbery and various forms of illegal wrongdoing as a way to earn income to clear debts on football wagers.

KASIKORN RESEARCH CENTER (KResearch) has conducted a poll on "Thai Behavior on the 2006 World Cup" between May 1-15, 2006, using a sampling group of 3,093 persons, classified by gender, age and occupation throughout the populace in all regions across the country. The findings show that football gambling among Thais will not be affected by the slowing economic growth and ebbing consumer purchasing power in the midst of steep oil prices, increases in product prices and rising interest rates. As far as estimates go, wagers to be placed in the forthcoming football tournament are expected to total around THB37 billion, compared to the total of some THB30 billion recorded for the 2002 World Cup, representing a rise by 23.3 percent. In the metropolitan areas, around 700,000 city dwellers are expected to gamble on football matches, thus resulting in a cashflow of some THB7.6 billion, increasing from the total betting of THB6.7 billion recorded for the last tournament.

The higher wagers to be placed on this biggest sporting event can be attributed to numerous supportive factors, i.e.

Significance of World Cup It could be said that World Cup is the greatest single sporting event on earth, eagerly awaited by people of all walks of life around the globe. The tournament, played every four years by the world's most prestigious and favorite national teams, i.e., Britain, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Argentina, etc. is a magnet that draws a large number of viewers to stay glued to TVs for the matches and bet on games as a way to heighten their excitement.

Economic Conditions Considering the present situation, Thais are facing problems of rising costs of living while their income cannot meet necessary expenditures. This will result in people pouring their interest into gambling for the hope of good luck as they think they foresee a chance to make easy money from World Cup gambling. Simple procedures facilitate this gambling in betting with friends as well as with the many gambling dens and bookmakers dispersed throughout communities. The poll's results exhaustively detail reasons why respondents gamble on football. Some 56.4 percent of them said they want to increase their enjoyment while watching the matches, followed by gambling for money (34.1 percent), and betting in order to test their knowledge of the game with friends (8.7 percent). The poll also showed the reasons why they won't gamble for respondents that said they are abstaining on this World Cup; 39.5 percent said that they don't like gambling, 19.1 percent are afraid of being arrested, 18.2 percent have no money to gamble, 14.8 percent do not know how gambling to make wagers and 7.7 percent answered that they have no venue in which to gamble. The group who will not be betting on football due to the fact that they are afraid of being arrested, have no money, or do not know how and have no venue to place bets are prone to the risk that will participate in football gambling, if these restrictions disappear.

Sources of Gambling Funds Apart from salaries and savings, at present Thais sometimes resort to loans especially those outside the system, which are widely advertised on the street, work places and in the vicinity of department stores. The loan procedures are not complex and need no guarantor. Borrowers can obtain loans quickly. Moreover, in the mean time, gold prices have risen substantially, so, gold is also another source of cash to gamble with by pawning and selling their gold back to gold shops.

Increasing Numbers of Targeted Customers - resulting from population growth, especially in risk groups such as the working population. During the 2002 Football World Cup, Thailand had 33.06 millions persons in the working population, compared to the current figure of 36.3 million, or an increase of 3.24 million. Another risk group is primary school graduate children; many cases of gambling among primary school students have been discovered, mostly due to peer pressure. This survey of the sampling group interested in this Football World Cup showed that 24.8 percent of the respondents would be new gamblers who had not gambled in the previous World Cup. When classified by profession and educational status, it can be seen that as much as 31.3 percent of the student gamblers did not bet on the previous Football World Cup match, making up the largest segment of new gamblers compared to other occupations, followed by government employees/state enterprise workers and private sector employees.

KResearch believes that over the past few years, the government sector, especially the police, have continuously and expeditiously striven to prevent and suppress football gambling, which has led to the arrest of a large number of gamblers and den operators. However, the number of gamblers are increasing in all walks of life and ages, be they children, youths or adults, while the police force is inadequate to cope with this spreading dilemma where gambling dens exist in every community. In addition, football wagers can be placed over the phone and fund transfers made via financial institutions, which are difficult to track. During the 2006 Football World Cup, it is anticipated that Thais will participate actively in football gambling, hence, all concerned sectors should join hands in helping to solve this problem. Educational institutions must take care that their students do not get involved in betting by implementing several measures, for example, computer science instructors in schools must prevent gambling over the Internet, as well as check student class attendance. Meanwhile, schools should cooperate with police officials in imposing stricter controls over gambling dens near schools. The general public can help the police by providing information if they know of any football gambling to help prevent it from becoming even more pandemic.

However, it is noteworthy that the institution that is taking an important role on preventing and reducing football gambling is the institution of family, because it is closest to the gamblers, such as parents and guardians who should to pay close attention to family members. Parents and guardians must observe family members' behavior, such as their reaction after the results of football matches. If they are unusually bad-tempered, it may be that they are involved in football gambling. Besides this, parents and guardians should notice whether personal belongings, such as mobile telephones, gold ornament, digital cameras or MP3 players or items from within their home disappear to settle losses on wagers. On the other hand, if family members who have never had costly items as mentioned above suddenly come into possession of them without apparent reason during the World Cup, it may be assumed that they may have won in football gambling.

KASIKORN RESEARCH CENTER does not support football gambling because gambling never benefits gamblers in the long-run. In addition, gamblers lose possessions and the activity itself also causes civil disorders in families and the community, increases crime, especially thefts, breaking and entering, and other crimes to find the money to settle bad wagers; this can include such intensely dangerous activity as drug trafficking, and prostitution. As a result, related authorities, such as government agencies, educational institutions, and the family institution itself have to cooperate and promote Thais to participate in the World Cup viewing in a positive manner for entertainment only. World Cup viewing should not reduce one's efficiency in study or work, or deteriorate health from insufficient sleep due to late night viewing of World Cup live broadcasts. The most important point is that the World Cup should not become an excuse for gambling, because it disadvantages one's self, family, and society with inevitably malevolent results.

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