(BANGKOK) Thais’ love of gambling translates into an average monthly expenditure on the habit of up to 8 billion baht (S$320 million) in Bangkok alone, a survey released on Thursday found.

The survey from the Thai Farmers Bank found that expenditure on gambling – which is for the most part illegal in the kingdom – totals 10 to 18 per cent of gamblers’ combined incomes in this city of ten million.

The survey by the economic thinktank found that just under a quarter of the sample group of more than a thousand people had sunk into debt as a result of their gambling habit.

Of that group, some 14.4 per cent said they had thought of committing suicide to escape their indebtedness, while just over half said they had considered giving up gambling.

Aside from an official lottery and horse racing, Thailand’s conservative society has balked at legalising the lucrative …