COCK FIGHTING MAGAZINES: BIG BUSINESS
It appears that magazines devoted to the 'sport' of cock fighting are big business in Thailand - there are at least four covering the sector.
Cock Fighting Man (right) is one title published by Start Media. It retails for 50 baht, and the October edition runs to 120 pages with around 25% of these being advertising. It's a mix of the poor quality Thai paper (used for the editorial pages) and glossy (for advertising). That's typical of these low-cost magazines.
The cover story of this month's Cock Fighting Man (sorry, I had to say it again) reports on how one match-up generated 440,000 baht in betting turnover, and possibly double that unofficially. Of course gambling of any kind still remains illegal here.
Cock fighting itself appears to be legal in Thailand although it's not something you will find on the streets unless you go looking for it. I've not seen anything like this in my time in Thailand.
Keep reading The Bangkok Bugle for more interesting and unusual magazines from Thailand.
3 comments:
Last year I noticed several Amulett Magazines - which I only noticed due to their broken English on the title page. Guess you'll feature these as well...
So betting is illegal but it is reported in a Thai magazine - how does that work?
Andy. Yes, the amulet magazines seem to be thriving and I'll be including them in coming days and weeks, along with the important benefits the whole Chatukarm phenomenon had on the publishing industry.
Teresa. Hi ya. Yes, it does seem strange that gambling is illegal here yet magazines like 'Cock Fighting Man' openly talk about it, and other magazines carry Thai language advertising for Ladbrokes Thai language internet set. I think the cock fighting aspect is probably a bit of tradition, and the fact the 'sport' is pretty well established. The same can be said of Thai boxing I guess.
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