BANGKOK — Euro 2024, the European football tournament starting on June 14 in Germany, is expected to boost economic circulation in Thailand as well.
Mr. Thanavath Phonvichai, President of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center, revealed on June 10 the results of a survey on the behavior and spending of the public during the Euro 2024 football tournament.
It is expected that the economic circulation will be 87.6 billion baht or 2.365 billion USD, an increase of 14 percent compared to the previous Euro tournament.
This can be broken down into 20.5 billion baht in economic spending, an increase of 5.1 percent, and 67 billion baht in non-economic spending (football betting), an increase of 17.10 percent.
“This year’s editions are considered lively because the live broadcasts lead to many economic activities, such as selling food and drinks and eating out to watch the games. It shows that people should return to normal soccer cheer. This can be seen from the spending in the economic system, which exceeds 20 billion baht this time, the highest in 8 years. The most outstanding growth is in non-economic spending, or soccer betting, which has risen to 67 billion baht, the highest in 16 years.”
Ms. Umakamol Sunthornsurat, deputy director of the Economic and Business Forecasting Center at the College of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said that from the European Soccer Championship spending behavior survey of more than a thousand samples across the country, most will spend more than in the last Euro. The highest spending will be on food and drinks, about 3,700 baht per person. Spending on food and drinks is 4,497 baht per person and buying soccer team memorabilia is 2,475 baht per person.
Approximately 70 percent said they would spend more than the previous Euro. Notably, the behavior of betting on football has increased, with 35.6 percent of the samples indicating they would bet on football, mostly with cash. On average, they would spend more than 2,000 baht per match, or an average of 23,574 baht throughout the season.
For the form of football betting, 58.5 percent bet with cash, 21.5 percent bet with food, and 20 percent bet with items. The source of money for betting is mainly 51.8 percent from salary and regular income, 38.7 percent from savings, 4.7 percent from parents, 4.4 percent from bonuses, and 0.4 percent from loans.
The reasons for betting on Euro football are 47.1 percent for fun, 44.7 percent hoping for a reward from betting, 6.3 percent to invite others to play, 1.4 percent as a trend, and 0.2 percent for other reasons.
The top 5 teams that most Thais support are England, Germany, France, Portugal, and Italy. The top 5 teams expected to win the championship are England, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
_____
Related articles:
