Thai Digital Lottery

Thailand's government lottery went digital in June 2022, and it changed one of the country's most stubborn problems: the street price of a ticket. Paper tickets have an official price of THB 80, but vendors have long charged more for "pretty" numbers, sometimes THB 110 and up per ticket⁵. The digital platform sells the same six-digit lottery at the official price, every ticket, every time. If you are curious about the wider lottery scene, see the Thailand lottery for the paper side and the other games on offer.

What the digital lottery is

The digital lottery is the same six-digit government lottery product as the paper version, known as L6 or Lottery 6. The numbers are pre-assigned and limited, running from 000000 to 999999, and the tickets are sold both as printed paper and as digital entries through the Paotang app³. Nothing about the game itself changes: same draws, same prize structure, same odds.

What changes is the channel and the record-keeping. Physical tickets for the digital platform are printed and kept at the Government Lottery Office as a reference for prize payment, while the buyer holds a digital record in the app⁶. Your tickets sit in one place in the app, and you know the result immediately after the draw⁷. Prize money is paid to the owner of the winning ticket based only on the purchase and sale records on the Paotang app², which removes the old anxiety about a lost or stolen paper ticket.

Sales opened on June 2, 2022, for the draw of June 16, 2022⁶. The platform launched with at least 5 million tickets per draw, sold through 10,513 contracted retail agents⁴. From the September 16, 2024 draw onward, an additional 2 million digital tickets have been released mid-draw on top of the original allocation⁸.

One point worth understanding early: the tickets listed in the app belong to the retail agents who contracted to sell on the platform⁴. You are buying from a licensed agent's stock, through the app, rather than from the Government Lottery Office directly. The app is simply the storefront.

How the Paotang app works for buying tickets

Paotang is Krungthai Bank's wallet app, and the digital lottery runs through it on both iOS and Android². Before you can buy anything, you must register in the app and verify your identity as the app requires⁹. You also need money in your G-Wallet, the wallet inside Paotang, because that is how you pay for tickets¹⁰.

Once you are set up, buying works like this:

1. Search for a ticket. There are two ways to search: by the number you want, or by browsing the shops of retail agents selling on the platform⁴. Search results display 50 tickets at a time².
2. Pick your ticket. You can buy single tickets or sets⁹. Each ticket shows its six-digit number and the THB 80 price.
3. Pay within the time limit. After selecting a ticket you must pay within the period the app specifies. You scan a QR code to pay and confirm with your 6-digit code⁹. Once payment goes through, ownership of the ticket passes to you⁴.
4. Keep your receipt. The app issues a receipt with your name and address in your lottery wallet, and keeps your full purchase history from the first draw onward as evidence¹¹.

The app also handles the boring parts well. It checks winning numbers for you, and prize money can be withdrawn through G Wallet and Krungthai accounts⁷. On the first day of sales in June 2022 the system ran without downtime, which is worth knowing if you remember the launch-day crashes that plague many government apps elsewhere¹².

The Government Lottery Office urges buyers to purchase only from agents with a physical premises or through the Paotang app, so that prize money is guaranteed¹³. Digital ticket sales through the app are lawful at every step, with business permission requested under the Direct Sales and Direct Marketing Act¹⁴. Be careful not to confuse the official app with other online platforms and vending machines selling "government lottery" tickets; the Government Lottery Office has no policy or contract with those sellers, and buyers through such channels risk paying more than THB 80¹⁵.

What a ticket costs

Digital ticket prices are set by the selling agent, within a range of THB 50 to 80¹, while the Paotang app itself sells at a flat THB 80¹⁵. That is the whole story, and it is the main reason the platform exists.

For comparison, the paper lottery also has an official price of THB 80 per ticket, but in practice street vendors charge a premium for pretty numbers or tickets sold in sets, which can push the price to THB 110 and up per ticket⁵. The digital platform was created partly to guarantee that ordinary buyers could always get a ticket at the official price¹². Agents on the digital platform can adjust prices within a range of THB 50 to 80 for tickets in their shop¹, but the Paotang app itself sells at THB 80 flat¹⁵.

When you can buy

Digital tickets are on sale every day from 06:00 to 23:00. On draw days, buying closes earlier, at 14:00². The same hours applied from the very first day of sales in June 2022², and they were a deliberate improvement over the paper market: longer selling hours every day, right up to the afternoon of the draw⁶.

So if you want a ticket for the draw on the 16th, you can buy any day of the month before that, and on the 16th itself you have until 14:00. The results broadcast starts at 14:30 the same afternoon¹⁶, so the buying window closes about half an hour before the draw results begin.

Draw schedule and number format

Draws are held twice a month, on the 1st and 16th of every month³. There are a few fixed exceptions: the New Year draw is held on December 30 each year, and there are special draws around Teachers' Day (January 17) and Labour Day (May 2). A draw date can also be moved if it falls on an important religious day¹⁶. The results broadcast runs from 14:30 until about 16:00 Thailand time¹⁶.

The number format is six digits, each from 0 to 9, giving the range 000000 to 999999. Numbers are pre-assigned and limited, so you are choosing from the stock that exists rather than generating any number you like³. If the exact number you want is not in any agent's stock, you cannot create it; you search for what is available.

The L6 is a non-contributing prize type. If a draw has no winner for a given prize, that prize money does not roll over to the next draw; it is sent to state revenue instead³.

The prize table

Each set of the six-digit lottery carries 14,168 prizes worth THB 48 million in total¹⁷. One set is 1 million tickets at THB 80 each². The full breakdown:

That is 9 prize categories in total³. The "front three digits" and "back three digits" prizes are drawn twice each, which is why 2,000 winners are paid in those categories. The back two digits prize, at THB 2,000, is the most common win and the one most buyers realistically hope for.

One important condition sits behind these figures: if the tickets in a set are not fully sold, each prize amount is reduced proportionally¹⁷. The headline numbers assume a sell-out.

How to claim a prize through the app

If you win, the app notifies you, and you have three channels for receiving the money: a linked Krungthai bank account, G Wallet, or claiming in person at the Government Lottery Office¹⁸.

For the two app-based channels:

• Krungthai account. You can link your account by entering your 10-digit Krungthai account number. Money deposited this way earns savings interest at the prescribed rate, with no limit on deposits¹⁸.
• G Wallet. Prize money can be transferred into your G Wallet, or onward through any bank account¹¹.

To confirm a claim in the app you enter your 6-digit PIN¹⁸. Your claim details are viewable afterwards in the "digital lottery prize claim history" menu¹⁸.

The big exception is the first prize. It cannot be claimed automatically through a Krungthai account¹; the THB 6 million winner must claim in person at the Government Lottery Office¹¹. For in-person claims, the prize payment service runs every business day from 07:30 to 15:00, and you register through the application before receiving service¹⁹. On the day, you show a national ID card or another government-issued card to staff at the service registration point²⁰. Online queue booking is limited to one queue per person per day¹⁹.

Winners have two years from the draw date to claim. After that deadline, the prize money goes to state revenue².

Claim fees and stamp duty on winnings

Two deductions apply when you claim.

First, a claim fee of 1 percent of the prize money is deducted when you receive winnings via a Krungthai bank account or G Wallet¹⁸. This fee was part of the platform's design from the start, applying to transfers through Krungthai Bank⁶.

Second, stamp duty applies to government lottery winnings at THB 1 per THB 200 of prize money, or fraction of THB 200²¹. So on a THB 2,000 back-two-digits win, the stamp duty is THB 10; on the THB 6 million first prize it is THB 30,000. The same rate has applied to the paper lottery for years, so this is not a new digital-only charge²².

If you claim at partner banks, agencies or platforms outside the standard channels, additional fees set by that service provider may apply¹⁹.

Rules on ownership, resale and non-winning tickets

Once you pay for a ticket, ownership passes to you and the ticket cannot be resold¹². This is enforced by the system itself: a ticket someone has bought disappears from that agent's shop immediately, so the shop cannot sell the same number twice⁴. This is a real difference from the paper market, where a physical ticket can change hands any number of times before the draw.

Because ownership is locked to the buyer, the digital lottery reduces the risk of someone falsely claiming your ticket²³. Prize money goes to the owner recorded in the app's purchase data, full stop².

If you want the physical ticket as a keepsake, you can file a request to receive it by presenting proof of purchase from the app, whether or not it won⁴. For non-winning tickets, you can collect the paper from the Government Lottery Office before the next draw date⁴.

Who can buy

Buyers must be at least 20 years of age⁴. The app enforces this with clear identity verification at registration, and the system cannot sell to anyone under 20¹¹. The same 20-year minimum applies to prize recipients at the Government Lottery Office¹⁹.

You register through the app and verify your identity as the app requires before you can buy⁴. Because identity is tied to the purchase, and ownership cannot be transferred after payment, buying a ticket "for someone else" does not really work: the ticket and any prize belong to the account holder who paid¹².

For foreign visitors and residents, the practical route is the same: register in the Paotang app and complete its identity verification. The app is the only official digital channel, and buying through it is what guarantees your prize claim¹³.