3,000 people arrested for gambling on World Cup

3,000 people arrested for gambling on World Cup

Dancers participate in a campaign in Bangkok early this month against gambling on the World Cup. Police said they had arrested about 3,000 football punters and bookies since the World Cup 2018 kicked off. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)
Dancers participate in a campaign in Bangkok early this month against gambling on the World Cup. Police said they had arrested about 3,000 football punters and bookies since the World Cup 2018 kicked off. (Photo by Somchai Poomlard)

Police have arrested about 3,000 football gamblers and bookies nationwide in the four days since the World Cup started, with financial institutions and phone service operators helping shut down online gambling, according to law enforcement authorities.

Deputy national police chief Chalermkiat Srivorakhan said on Monday that about 250 of the 3,000 arrests were in Bangkok and adjacent provinces.

No young people had been arrested and police were not aware of any crimes committed relating to losses from football gambling during the four days, he said.

More than 100,000 football gambling websites had been detected, about 100 of them operated by Thai people. The local websites were a development from conventional bookmakers, who had previously taken bets using written records.

Their online operations were set up ahead of time but were already being monitored before the matches started by police gathering evidence to support requests for court orders to close them down, Pol Gen Chalermkiat said.

"Gambling on the World Cup is bigger than it was four years ago because people have easy access to football gambling websites via mobile phones," the deputy national police chief said.

He also said police would summons about 10 net idols to Phaya Thai police station in Bangkok next week and charge them with inviting people to gamble on football matches.

Pol Maj Gen Romsit Weeriyasan, acting secretary-general of the Anti-Money Laundering Office, said his organisation, police, telephone service operators and 36 financial institutions had joined forces to detect online gambling.

He warned parents to keep their children away from online gambling because they could face not only criminal prosecution but also seizure of their assets. 

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