Homepage > Thai Youth Issues > Boy, 14, admits to gambling addiction

Dec 1, 2023 The Nation

Gambling on football matches is being taken up by more and more people from all walks of life, often to their regret. It has even started among schoolchildren, as the story of a 14 year old at Assumption School in Thon Buri shows.

Lek, not his real name, said he had been gambling for some time, placing bets with bookies who operated from a computergame shop opposite his school.

“At first, I wasn’t interested in gambling but I was persuaded by the older students. In the beginning I bet only on famous football clubs, Bt300 each time. It was so easy to make money from it, I started betting everyday,” Lek said.

If they won, the students could collect their money before school ended on the following day. If they lost, they had to pay up early the next day.After a series of wins, Lek started losing and his debts now total Bt3,000. He is pestered by the bookies, who threaten to beat him up if he does not repay the debt, or to tell his teachers and parents about it.

Now Lek simply stays at home. “I told my parents I was sick so that I don’t have to go to school,” he said.

Witnesses say that after classes end at 3.30pm, many of the school’s students from Grades 7, 8 and 9 flock to the computergame shop, waiting there for their parents to pick them up. Many elder students are seen carrying football magazines, chitchatting about the prospects for upcoming matches and the odds. “Mostly we place the bets with the guys at the game shop, but sometimes we just bet among friends. The bets vary, but do not go over Bt3,000,” said one highschool student.

The Nation