Thai Cabinet approves two new lottery products L6 and N3

Thailand's Cabinet approved in principle the issuance of two new government lottery products, L6 and N3, at a meeting on July 27, 2023, according to the provincial public relations office of Ayutthaya¹. The decision was taken to add digital sales channels and to increase the options for buying lottery tickets legally, after studies of buyers, sellers and sellers from disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities¹.

L6, or Lottery 6, is a non-contributory prize type: if a draw has no winner, the prize money goes to state revenue¹. It uses a six-digit number, each digit running from 0 to 9 (000000 to 999999), with numbers set in advance and limited, and no repeated selection of the same number¹. It carries 9 prize categories and 14,168 prizes per set, drawn on the 1st and 16th of each month¹. The top prize is 6 million baht for one winner, with two adjacent prizes of 1 แสนบาท each, five second prizes of 2 แสนบาท, ten third prizes of 8 หมื่นบาท, fifty fourth prizes of 4 หมื่นบาท and 100 fifth prizes of 2 หมื่นบาท¹. There are also 2,000 front three-digit prizes of 4,000 baht, 2,000 back three-digit prizes of 4,000 baht and 10,000 back two-digit prizes of 2,000 baht¹. L6 is sold both as printed tickets and digitally through the Paotang application¹.

N3, or Numbers 3, is a contributory prize type: if a draw has no winner, the allocated prize money is carried into the next draw, for no more than one draw, and if there is still no winner the carried amount goes to state revenue¹. Buyers choose three digits, each from 0 to 9 (000 to 999), with no numbers set in advance and repeats allowed¹. It has 4 prize categories, with the number of prizes not fixed because it varies with how many tickets are sold; the lottery office announces the payout proportion for each category in advance before every draw on the 1st and 16th¹. The categories are three exact (all digits correct and in position), three any order (all digits correct but rearranged), two exact, and a special prize¹. N3 is sold only in digital form through the Paotang application¹.

On distribution, existing L6 ticket agents keep their contracts for printed and digital sales, and disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities are selected from among existing agents to sell L6 digitally¹. For N3, disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities are given the opportunity to sell¹. The office said N3 would help fix the problem of tickets sold above their listed price, since it is digital only, and would give people more legal buying options because buyers can choose their own numbers, with a special prize and a guaranteed payout¹. Issuing L6 alongside N3 would cut some costs, such as ticket delivery and printing, because digital L6 is not printed and its image is not scanned¹. The office also said the products are not meant to promote gambling among Thais, but to reduce access to overpriced tickets and the underground lottery¹.

What it means for players

The two products differ in how they are bought and how prizes behave. L6 keeps a printed ticket alongside a digital version on Paotang, and its prize pool does not roll over: an unwon draw sends the money to state revenue¹. N3 exists only on Paotang, lets the buyer pick all three digits, and rolls an unwon prize pool into one following draw before it too goes to state revenue¹. For anyone who currently buys from street sellers, N3 is the product the office presents as the answer to tickets sold above their listed price, because there is no physical ticket to mark up¹. The office states that N3 buyers get a guaranteed payout and a special prize category¹. The announcement does not set ticket prices for either product, and no price has been reported¹. It also does not say when sales begin, how many tickets go on sale, or how the special prize is determined beyond matching the special draw result¹.

What happens next

The Cabinet approved the products in principle only¹. The announcement describes a communication plan covering explanation of the new formats and the steps before actual sales begin, and states that the products add options for the public and reduce access to overpriced tickets and the underground lottery¹. No start date for sales has been reported¹.

For background on how the current system works, see The Lottery in Thailand: Who Can Play and How, How Much Does a Thai Government Lottery Ticket Cost? and How to Buy Thai Lottery Tickets Online. For the wider legal picture, see Which Lotteries Are Legal in Asia? and Gambling Laws in Asia: What Is Legal in 12 Jurisdictions.