Mathematically, France and Portugal each have a 50-50 chance to win the Euro 2016 football final. Those are far better odds than the numbers facing Thai punters chasing the top prize in a tournament-linked draw. They stand at 1:18,000,000.
But that hasn't stopped fortune seekers from packing post offices across the country to buy postcards to predict the winner on Saturday, the deadline for Thailand Post to send the entries to Thai Rath newspaper, the draw sponsor.
Thailand Post has stocked 18 million postcards printed specifically for the draw and president Samorn Terdthampiboon expressed confidence that all of them would be gone when the deadline passed at 6pm on Saturday.
As the deadline drew near, some people were even queuing at post offices before they opened at 8.30am so they could get their hands on the 2-baht cards to pick the winning team.
Khon Wongkalasin, a Thailand Post manager in charge of Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buri Ram, Si Sa Ket and Roi Et, said more than 11 million cards had been sold in the five northeastern provinces. Some branches in Nakhon Ratchasima had sold out before Saturday, he added.
Surat Pama, who is in charge of Khon Kaen, said all 2.7 million postcards in all post offices in the province were sold. "We deployed all staff at all our offices today to make sure that every postcard would be sent to the Bangkok main office," he added.
The top prize in the Thai Rath draw is 10 million baht. All prizes total 40 million baht in cash and other rewards.
That cannot match the money the winner of the final will receive. The champions will get €8 million (310 million baht) and the runners-up will receive €5 million.
JR, a macaw at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, has already decided who will win Euro 2016. (Khao Kheow Open Zoo photo)
Nobody knows who will be the best team in Europe until the final whistle sounds on Sunday night.
But JR at the Khao Kheow Open Zoon in Chon Buri picked hosts France over Portugal after the macaw selected the French flag on Saturday.
Don't underrate this male bird, as he also made the right selections in the Word Cup finals in 2010 and 2014 and Euro 2012.
Billed as a duel between two "magnificent sevens" -- Antoine Griezmann of France and Cristiaano Ronaldo of Portugal -- the match begins at the Stade de France near Paris at 2am Monday Thailand time. The live broadcast on Channel 33 will start 30 minutes earlier.
