Thailand Police Raided Illegal Online Gambling Operations
Thailand, other than horse racing and the government officiated the Thai lottery, prohibits gambling activities. There are regular cases of illegal gambling activities in the country.
The gambling prohibition dates back to 1935 in the Gambling Act of Thailand.
Thailand police raided a secretive online gambling operation. The online gambling operators were reportedly making $3 million in revenue per month from the illegal activity.
The raid was held in Bangkok, and police arrested 19 people, of which there were 8 men and 11 women.
The convicted group was upholding their online gambling operation in three rooms of one building. The authorities seized a total of eight computers, thirty monitors, seventeen ATM cards, and seven bank account books.
The online gambling operation was working under the website PGSLOT889.com. The authorities were looking into the gambling network for quite a long before raiding the property and arresting the people involved in the conviction.
Casino gambling is considered illegal in Thailand, only government-sponsored operators can function in the country. Thailand authorities have a history of tackling illegal gambling in the country for decades.
A quite similar case was reported on 5th May 2021 by the Thailand police. 12 people including the property owner were busted while executing illegal gambling in the restaurant. The authorities collected gambling equipment and THB 3,500 ($112) in cash from the convicted.
Since the start of the year 2021, Thailand authorities have held such operations to raid illegal casino activities in the country. The authorities have impounded almost $39 million in assets, including houses, properties, and bank accounts, from two illegal gambling operators.
Two gambling operators were listed as suspects to the operator of the illegal gambling den in the country by the authorities. Later, after arrest, it was found that the illegal gambling dens contributed to the Covid-19 surge in the country during December 2020.
Despite daily cases of illegal gambling operators being taken into custody, the Thailand government may be considering legalizing online gambling in the country.
As per the report published by Bangkok Post, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha will be considering the possibility of regulating online gambling in the country.
The discussion on legalizing online gambling activities is majorly focused on reducing illegal gambling activities increasing in the country and are the major causes of the spread of the deadly Covid-19.
The country’s prime minister noted that legalizing online gambling in the country is a much more moral issue than a legal one.
Thailand has recently made two teams of highly qualified officials to control the illegal activities in the country.
A group of 11 officials is associated to control and detect illegal online gambling operations in the country. Another 15 officials are gathered to form a committee that will look into the illegal border crossing activities in the country.
Wissanu Krea-ngam, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Country stated, “I believe these committees should be able to some extent – win the trust of the members of the public. ”
Even though Thailand is a major tourism sector and does allow horse racing and government authorized lottery, the country still has provided any solid provide as to when the government will legalize the online gambling industry.