Understanding the impact of gambling with special reference to Thailand

This thesis mainly consists of three empirical chapters related to understanding the characteristics, economic impact and the demand for gambling in Thailand. Beginning with a review of the theoretical and empirical literature, this confirms that socio-economic and demographic data are important determinants of the level of gambling participation and gambling expenditure. A Logit model is then used to estimate the participation of gambling. The results suggest that the number games, such as the government lottery, the underground lottery, are popular among old gamblers whereas football betting is popular for adolescents. In the past, most casino customers were old gamblers, but at present the number of young gamblers who participate in casino has considerably increased. A Tobit model is employed to estimate the level of gambling frequency and gambling expenditure. The estimations reveal that there is a “supplementation effect” of casino on other gambling types and the effect also appears among the number games. The gambling expenditures on the number games are high in the group of gamblers who have undergraduate degree or lower while the expenditures on casino and football betting are high in the group of gamblers who have undergraduate degree. However, a higher education level leads to a lower level of gambling expenditures. The focus is then centred on the 2-3 digit lottery. The rational addiction model is tested for the case of the 2-3 digit lottery. In the addiction framework, the 2-3 digit lottery is found to be an addictive goods and the addiction is “myopic addiction”. This finding is confirmed by Instrumental Variable estimation.