N3 Lottery in Thailand

The N3 lottery, called Numbers 3 in full, is the Thai Government Lottery Office's three-digit game. Unlike the classic paper lottery where you take whatever number is printed on the ticket, N3 lets you choose your own three digits, from 000 to 999, and it is sold only in digital form through the Paotang app. It was launched alongside the L6 six-digit product to give players a legal way to pick their own numbers, and it draws on the 1st and 16th of every month¹.

How a ticket works: choosing your three digits

An N3 ticket is a three-digit number. Each digit runs from 0 to 9, so the full range is 000 to 999, and no numbers are pre-assigned. You choose all three digits yourself, and you may repeat a digit, so 777 or 404 are valid picks just like 318¹.

This is the big difference from the traditional Thai government lottery, where a paper ticket carries a fixed six-digit number and you take what the vendor has. With N3, if you have a number you like, a birthday, a house number, a number you saw in a dream, you can search for it directly in the app and buy it if it is available.

There are four prize categories¹:

• Exact three (รางวัลสามตรง): your three digits match the drawn number in the exact order.
• Permuted three (รางวัลสามสลับหลัก): your digits match the drawn number in any order. So if 318 is drawn, tickets holding 381, 813, 831, 138 and 183 all win this prize. One quirk: if the drawn number has all three digits the same, such as 777, no ticket can win the permuted prize, and the unclaimed money is added to the next draw's permuted prize pool⁵.
• Exact two: your digits match part of the drawn number in the exact order specified for that prize.
• Special prize: an additional prize category announced with each draw.

The number of winners in each category varies with sales, and the payout ratios are announced before each draw, so the exact prize amounts are not fixed in advance the way the main lottery's prizes are¹.

N3 is a contributing prize game. If a draw has no winner in a category, the prize money allocated for that draw rolls over and boosts the same category in the next draw, for a maximum of one draw. Anything still unclaimed after that goes to state revenue¹.

Draw schedule: the 1st and 16th of every month

N3 draws are held on the 1st and 16th of every month, the same twice-monthly rhythm as the main Thai government lottery¹. The Government Lottery Office draws on the 1st and 16th of each month, with a few fixed exceptions²:

Draws can also be moved when they would fall on an important religious day².

Results come out in the afternoon, and the Paotang app shows winning numbers after each draw, so you can check your ticket where you bought it⁶.

Buying tickets through the Paotang application

N3 is digital only. There are no paper N3 tickets and no street vendors selling them; the only channel is the Paotang application from Krungthai Bank¹. If you want the broader picture of how the app works, see Thailand's digital lottery and the Paotang app.

Here is how a purchase works in practice:

1. Register and verify. You need to download the Paotang app, register, and verify your identity as the app requires⁸.
2. Top up your wallet. You must have enough money in your G-Wallet to pay for the tickets you select⁹.
3. Search for your number. The app offers two search methods: search by the number you want, or browse the retail agent shops selling tickets¹⁰.
4. Pay within the time limit. Once you select a ticket, you must pay within the period the app specifies. Once paid, ownership of the ticket passes to you and it cannot be resold¹⁰.

Digital lottery tickets sold through the app cost no more than 80 baht each, with no additional fees or service charges⁴. The tickets themselves belong to the retail agents who contracted to sell on the platform, which is how the Government Lottery Office keeps the distribution network intact in digital form¹².

After buying, the app keeps a record for you: a receipt with your name and address is issued in your Paotang lottery wallet, and your full purchase history from draw 1 onward is stored there as evidence of what you hold¹³.

One practical point worth knowing: the Government Lottery Office advises buying lottery tickets only directly from sales agents with a physical premises, or through the Paotang app, so that prize money is guaranteed. Tickets bought any other way carry no such guarantee¹⁴.

Who can buy: the age-20 minimum

Buyers must be at least 20 years old. The Government Lottery Office set this age limit for digital lottery purchases through the app, and applies the same minimum to lottery buyers generally, partly to keep young people away from gambling; sales in schools are prohibited as well³.

The rule is the same whether you are Thai or a foreigner. Foreigners can legally buy Thai lottery tickets, including through the official digital channels, so a visitor or expat resident who is over 20 and has registered the app can play N3 the same way a local does¹⁵.

N3 and the old above-ground lottery

To understand why N3 exists, it helps to know what came before it. Thailand has a long history of two- and three-digit gambling on the government lottery results, and for a while there was even an official version: the three-digit and two-digit lottery known as huay bon din, which ran from August 1, 2003 to November 16, 2006. Tickets cost 20, 50 or 100 baht, and it paid 400 baht per 1 baht staked on the three-digit result and 55 baht per 1 baht on the two-digit result¹⁶.

When that product ended, the demand did not. It moved to the underground lottery, huay tai din, where bookmakers take two- and three-digit bets on the same government draw results and pay around 400 baht per 1 baht on the three-digit number, with some southern provinces such as Phuket paying up to 500, and 60 to 70 baht per 1 baht on the two-digit number. You can read more about that world in the underground lottery (huay tai din).

The Government Lottery Office also had a pricing problem with its own paper product. The official price of a government lottery ticket is 80 baht, but on the street tickets commonly sold for 90 baht at minimum, and 110 baht or more for pretty numbers or tickets in sets¹⁷.

The cabinet approved the L6 and N3 products together in 2023 to address both issues. Because N3 is digital only and sold through the app at a controlled price, it removes the over-face-value resale problem, and because buyers choose their own numbers, it gives people who want to play specific digits a legal option with a special prize and guaranteed payouts, rather than sending them to underground bookmakers¹.

Claiming prizes at the Government Lottery Office

Prize money is paid to the holder of the winning ticket who presents it to claim, and winners have two years from the draw date to claim. After that deadline, the money goes to state revenue⁷.

Where you claim depends on the size of the prize:

• Small prizes can be claimed at any branch nationwide of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, the Government Savings Bank, or Krungthai Bank, the three banks that represent the Government Lottery Office. A service charge applies at the bank agents¹⁸.
• Major prizes are claimed at the Government Lottery Office itself, at 359 Nonthaburi Road, Tha Sai subdistrict, Mueang Nonthaburi district, Nonthaburi province 11000, just north of Bangkok¹⁹.

For payment, prizes not over 20,000 baht are paid in cash, and prizes of 20,000 baht and above are paid by check from the Krungthai Bank Government Lottery Office branch, with stamp duty already deducted²⁰. At the office's G floor counter, prize money can also be credited to your bank account¹⁸.

Before you go to the office, you must book a queue through the online queue system on www.glo.or.th, the GLO Lottery app, or a QR code. One queue per person, with a maximum of 200 tickets per visit¹⁸. The office handles claims Monday to Friday, excluding official holidays, from 08.30 to 15.00 with no midday break²⁰.

For digital tickets bought through Paotang, winners can claim the prize themselves or have it transferred via G-Wallet or to any bank account¹³.

If you have questions, the Government Lottery Office call center is 0 2528 9999, open 07.30 to 15.30 on working days²¹. If gambling is causing you or a family member anxiety, the same number has a dedicated consultation line: press 9²². More resources are on our gambling help in Thailand page.