from ya-ba to football gambling and knife-wielding somchais, so smuch of called Thai 'culture' is about poor impulse control

Thai gambling on football has reached new heights during the World Cup season. Keep in mind that Thailand itself has never qualifed for World Cup competition.

from The Nation:

Football punters nabbed

Police have arrested 532 football gamblers in Bangkok and the metropolitan area in the last two weeks.

Of that number, 92 were unofficial bookmakers. Money being gambled totalled Bt196 million but only Bt500,000 of cash was seized, police said. [ed. this reflects huge unpayable debts once World Cup is over]

...

The arrests follow a special mission aimed at stopping gambling, especially among youths, during the World Cup. Police have checked about 3,000 premises around the capital.

From June 10-16, Assumption University conducted a public survey, from which it concluded that the number of people in Bangkok involved in football gambling was expected to rise from 850,000 to one million during the World Cup.

The poll also estimated that the amount being gambled would rise from Bt2 billion to Bt3 billion.

[ed. this amounts to between 54 and 81 million dollars US-- a huge sum by Thai standards, equivalent to nearly a week's wages for every working age Thai in Bangkok]