Police Warn Euro Gamblers

[george]

Police warn Euro gamblers

BANGKOK: -- Police and educators admitted yesterday that they had a daunting task ahead of them in trying to stop youths gambling on the Euro 2004 football tournament. But they would do their best.

"One hundred police teams have been set up in Bangkok to suppress betting on football matches between Saturday and July 5, the duration of the European championships," said Maj-General Wiroj Chantarangsri, the deputy Metropolitan Police commissioner. The police net is one of the control measures implemented by the Football Gambling Suppression Centre (FGSC) to block all possible channels of communication between punters and syndicates, Wiroj said.

"It's almost impossible to disrupt certain channels [used for betting], such as mobile phones, but police are determined to stamp out betting," he said.

Police have ways to screen and stop wagering over the Internet but will not reveal them for fear of alerting the racketeers, he said.

Senior officers at Hua Mark, Wang Thonglang and Udomsuk police stations in Metropolitan Police District 4 said they were prepared to step up patrols of teen hangouts.

"If wiping out every football gambling ring is too unrealistic a goal because of time constraints, police will try, at least, to stop youngsters from being lured into vice," said Colonel Wiwat Sirisunthorn, superintendent of Udomsuk police station.

Anyone caught helping minors to wager on football matches will face a maximum jail term of three months and a fine of Bt30,000 under the new child protection law, Deputy Education Minister Sutham Saengpratoom said.

This mandatory punishment is separate from any gambling-related charges, he said.

--The Nation 2004-06-11

[george]

Thai police to monitor internet for Euro Cup gambling

BANGKOK: -- Police will keep a close eye on Internet activity as part of their efforts to clamp down on gambling during the upcoming Euro 2004 Cup soccer tournament.

Police in the Thai capital will open a center to stop soccer gambling on Saturday, when the tournament kicks off in Portugal, said Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thanee Somboonsap.

Many Thais are avid fans of European soccer, and gambling on matches is popular although illegal.

Lt. Gen. Thanee encouraged people to call a local emergency number to tip off the authorities about betting.

"Apart from this, police will keep an eye on people gambling on the Internet because we have information that some of the big-time soccer gamblers will bet directly on the Internet," he said, without elaborating.

Most Thais place bets with neighborhood bookies, although during the last Euro Cup in 2000 many wagers were reportedly made with mobile phones.

During the 2000 tournament, Bangkok police arrested 260 people for gambling and seized nearly 4 million baht (US$98,500), said Thanee.

Still, the threat of police action was not expected to dampen gamblers' spirits.

Thailand's Kasikorn Bank on Thursday estimated that local betting turnover during this year's three-week tournament could reach as high as 33 billion baht (US$813 million).

It said its projection was based on a survey of 1,269 people countrywide.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra recently fanned the fervor of sports speculators with a plan to buy a 30 percent share in the English Premier League's Liverpool club.

--AP 2004-06-11

[Martin]

Is it really much use to try to suppress gambling?.

Booze prohibition didn't work in the States.

Finding a way to tax betting to the hilt, and using a proportion of the taxes to help the unfortunate minority who suffer addiction might be a better goal. (Apologies for the pun).

By the way, is there a Betters Anonymous, like there is AA?

I got interested in the subject of addictions when I had to help my 16-year-old grandson get off heroin. A tough 3 months for both of us. But I never followed up the interest. Being addicted to novelty of experience, some activity tempted me away.

[slim]

This is a scare story to try and worry people into thinking the police have the capability to do what they claim.

Anyone computer literate person knows that this statement is complete and utter bolox.

Police have ways to screen and stop wagering over the Internet but will not reveal them for fear of alerting the racketeers, he said.

[brownsugar]

This is a scare story to try and worry people into thinking the police have the capability to do what they claim.

Anyone computer literate person knows that this statement is complete and utter bolox.

Police have ways to screen and stop wagering over the Internet but will not reveal them for fear of alerting the racketeers, he said.

Slim its actually very easy to monitor internet traffic, if the police techies are given access to ISP traffic & logs. I'm not sure what provisions the law in Thailand has on these sort of "wire-tapping"

Police could combine intelligence from officers on the ground and corroborate it with internet traffic logs to obtain a conviction

[KevinN]

Is it really much use to try to suppress gambling?.

Booze prohibition didn't work in the States.

Finding a way to tax betting to the hilt, and using a proportion of the taxes to help the unfortunate minority who suffer addiction might be a better goal. (Apologies for the pun).

By the way, is there a Betters Anonymous, like there is AA?

I got interested in the subject of addictions when I had to help my 16-year-old grandson get off heroin. A tough 3 months for both of us. But I never followed up the interest. Being addicted to novelty of experience, some activity tempted me away.

Yes, There are fellowships in place for about every form of obsessive behavior,,

Overeater's anon.,Gamblers anon.,Alcoholics anon.,Narcotics anon.,sex a holics anon.,You name it and someone will jump on the success of AA,and they use a changed form of the 12 step program used by AA.

I know that G.A. is in place but have no way of knowing how to contact them, pobly GOGGLE would do it.

[Mr_Pedantic]

Haven't the Thai police got anything better to do. How about rounding up all those lottery ticket sellers encouraging people to gamble.

[astral]

Gambling in Thailand?

Perish the thought!!

[john b good]

Haven't the Thai police got anything better to do. How about rounding up all those lottery ticket sellers encouraging people to gamble.

BUT the Thai lottery is legal and indeed run by the gov't (unless you're referring to the illegal ones run in many area)

As for the coppers trying to shut gambling on Euro down thats gotta be the joke of the day.

The cops are involved in one shape or form with all the illegal scams in the country.

[bartender100]

I found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card

[chuckygobyebye]

Can someone tell my why all the focus on kids in this article? They're not worried about adults doing it?

[Foggy Bottom]

Thinks.........

His Uncheerfulness wanted to buy Liverpool with his own money initially

He wanted as fast completion

Existing majority shareholders are the Moores Family

Moores Family own Littlewood football pools betting syndicate

Was HU looking to get lowdown on how to run a football pools company?

Was he hoping to set it up in time for Euro & next World Cup?

Does he now believe he`ll lose next election so is planning alternative as he has done before - i.e. leaves police force to sell computers to police, leaves government office to sell computers to schools etc etc.

Has he set laws in motion to allow a monopolistic management of football betting managed by an "appropriate" person's organisation?

Is this police clampdown a way of clearing the path for that "appropriate person"?

[Loong Dave]

Anyone computer literate person knows that this statement is complete and utter bolox.

Not so true. The technology and equipment is there to trap phrases and words that travel through the routers and remember Mr. "P.M." controls the communications and routers which there are only a couple in Thailand that connect to the internet back bone and allow information to leave Thailand.

Very easy to control. The question is do the Thais have the money to buy the equipment to do this and when they buy it do they have the technology and inteligence to operate it. Not likely from what I have seen in the past.

[JemJem]

The thing is, according to what I heard and read, very little percentage of football gambling is done on the Internet in Thailand. It is almost always through 'contacts' (circuit of betters using mobile phones or getting together somewhere and conducting the betting). Only very little percentage of such people can be caught redhanded.

Regards,

Jem

[MadFrankie]

I found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card

Connecting to sites that arent blocked is going to land u in hot water, and using thai a CC thru a proxy would also be quite bustable!

[MadFrankie]

Anyone computer literate person knows that this statement is complete and utter bolox.

Not so true. The technology and equipment is there to trap phrases and words that travel through the routers and remember Mr. "P.M." controls the communications and routers which there are only a couple in Thailand that connect to the internet back bone and allow information to leave Thailand.

Very easy to control. The question is do the Thais have the money to buy the equipment to do this and when they buy it do they have the technology and inteligence to operate it. Not likely from what I have seen in the past.

lol.. I think you'll find 99.9999999999999999999% of gambling sites use encrypted connections when placing bets As u say, they could implement intelligent agents but as far as I know, there arent any that will break a 128bit cypher before the end of the year as yet

What words are they going to be looking for anywayz? "England vs France"? There'll probably be a couple of hundred million flags raised per day when people open their homepages alone..

[salty]

Blast it. I want to put my life savings on Latvia.

[ChiangMaiThai]

Anyone computer literate person knows that this statement is complete and utter bolox.

Not so true. The technology and equipment is there to trap phrases and words that travel through the routers and remember Mr. "P.M." controls the communications and routers which there are only a couple in Thailand that connect to the internet back bone and allow information to leave Thailand.

Very easy to control. The question is do the Thais have the money to buy the equipment to do this and when they buy it do they have the technology and inteligence to operate it. Not likely from what I have seen in the past.

Do you know this for a fact? If this was true, then whoever has access could steal credit card numbers and more. Surely its all encryted and there's nothing they can do?

If you use a proxy server, can they still see where you went?

The same police that support underground gambling dens across the country are now going to crack down on gambling. LEGALIZE IT AND TAX IT!!!

[ChiangMaiThai]

I found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card

Connecting to sites that arent blocked is going to land u in hot water, and using thai a CC thru a proxy would also be quite bustable!

Are you sure about this? I like to liven up sports action from time to time. US credit card deposit. US bank account received. In 2 years I've never received a visit from the moral crusaders... and I can't say I'm especially worried.

Do you have any evidence that any individual has been hunted down in Thailand for connecting to an online gaming site?

[MadFrankie]

I found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card

Connecting to sites that arent blocked is going to land u in hot water, and using thai a CC thru a proxy would also be quite bustable!

Are you sure about this? I like to liven up sports action from time to time. US credit card deposit. US bank account received. In 2 years I've never received a visit from the moral crusaders... and I can't say I'm especially worried.

Do you have any evidence that any individual has been hunted down in Thailand for connecting to an online gaming site?

ok.. It should have been "could land you in hot water".. If they were serious about bustin people, that would be the easiest way to do it, along with ordering banks to provide a list of people with CC transactions on their statements from gambling sites..

I never said there hunting down individuals, so why would I have any evidence? The police has said their going to bust people so I have mentioned a few things that are probably bad ideas..

[Guest fj2003]

******found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card *****

are you a scammer??? just asking you bartender

nut i think as long my money is out country and as long i don't bet inside the country it will be o.k.

but has anyone a good livescope like ******** or something like this for me ??

in germany i get the goals live on time to my mobile, dos this work here also?????

but i don't have money for a bit

so i can not play iam sad *schluchz*

sorry was a bad joke

[MadFrankie]

******found a good UK site which is not blocked,if anyone wants it PM me.You do need a uk credit card *****

are you a scammer??? just asking you bartender 

nut i think as long my money is out country and as long i  don't bet inside the country it will be o.k.

but has anyone a good livescope like spielergebnisse europa liga or something like this for me ??

in germany i get the goals live on time to my mobile, dos this work here also?????

but i don't have money for a bit

so i can not play  iam sad *schluchz*

I think you'll find, as far as thailand goes your still commiting a crime... its very doubtfull u will recive texts from the german service in thailand..

[Guest fj2003]

sollte halt ein scherz sein ok ging daneben

na und O2 ist immer noch ein +49 179 handy anschluss aus deutschland

und ich kriege halt immer die sms wenn in deutschland ein tor faellt

egal fuer wen

denn ich habe ja noch nicht mal ne ahnung wer gegen wen gerade kickt

sag mir lieber mal wie ich das auf meinem handy abstelle kann

habe da ein siemens c 25 mit ner karte und keine anleitung

aber ich habe null schimmer wie das spielen geht

und dazu auch noch nicht mal geld und hier in koelle ist das eh gelaufen seit wir abgestiegen sind

[ossie99]

Slightly off topic but defenitely the same vein. I've been a poker player for some 20 years, and had hoped to suppliment my income whilst in LOS thru online gaming. I've heard mixed reports about the legality, but the funds are deposited and recieved by a foriegn bank account. Will I be forced to quit one of my jobs? Does this mean i can collect unemployment compensation? It would be great if we could get the facts on gambling in LOS, to stay in accordance with the Authorities. By the way, its not gambling if you win. Its a job like any other.

[george]

Gamblers may face asset seizures

Revenue Dept to keep eye on bank accounts

BANGKOK: -- The government's crackdown on football betting is gathering momentum with the Justice Ministry threatening to enforce the anti-money laundering law against gamblers during Euro 2004 football tournament.

Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said football gamblers now faced the risk of having their assets seized under the anti-money laundering law.

Mr Pongthep expressed confidence that the measure would work _ especially with cooperation from the Revenue Department.

''The department will keep an eye on the movements of suspected bank accounts. We can definitely run checks on them, as we're working as a team,'' he said.

Mr Pongthep also noted that tax measures would be imposed on foreign bookmakers who operate on the Internet.

''They're legal, but they'll have to pay taxes under Thai law,'' he said.

The Juvenile Welfare Protection Police will enforce the child protection law to keep youngsters from gambling.

The division's action is prompted by various surveys which identify teenaged schoolboys as one of the most active gambling groups.

Division commander Pol Col Suras Udomrat said anyone encouraging children to gamble would face a three-month jail term and/or 30,000 baht fine.

Pol Col Suras said children that gambling would also be punished under the law.

The division has also launched a campaign to deter football gambling among youngsters at schools.

The target of its campaign is the 15 all-boy schools across the city.

Pol Maj-Gen Kosin Hinthao, chief of Crime Suppression Division, said the CSD was keeping a close watch on 100 suspected bookmakers nationwide.

High on the list were bookies operating in the Hat Yai district of Songkhla and the Sungai-kolok district of Narathiwat, who have connections with bookies in Malaysia and England.

''It's a large network that also includes some Bangkok-based bookmakers,'' he said.

The CSD commander said it was difficult to arrest these suspects as they conducted their business via telephone and the internet.

''The only way to get them, is to keep them under surveillance before taking any action,'' he said.

In addition, many local bookmakers will reportedly be conducting their business at casinos across the Cambodian border during the three-week tournament.

A Thai gambler, who identified himself as Winai, confirmed bookmakers were heading to the Cambodian town of Poi Pet, opposite the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province.

''Their main customers are Thais back home. They do their business via ATMs,'' he said.

--The Post 2004-06-12

[slim]

Mr Pongthep also noted that tax measures would be imposed on foreign bookmakers who operate on the Internet.

''They're legal, but they'll have to pay taxes under Thai law,'' he said.

Ludicrous. This man hasn't got a clue what he's talking about.

If, for example, you open a William Hill online account and deposit funds of £20 from your bank in England and then place a £20 bet on Ernie Els to win the US Open at 9/1 and he wins, which puts £200 in your William Hill account and then 6 months later you ask for the funds to be transferred to your bank - every transaction, as has been pointed out, having been 128bit encrypted.

Does anyone seriously think that this in any way detectable without spending multi-millions on detection equipment and fortunes on man power and human resources.

Besides, where does the tax element apply?

What's Mr Pongthep going to do ?

Send William Hill a tax invoice on the stake and/or the winnings?

Its not April the first again is it?

[MadFrankie]

Slightly off topic but defenitely the same vein.  I've been a poker player for some 20 years, and had hoped to suppliment my income whilst in LOS thru online gaming.  I've heard mixed reports about the legality, but the funds are deposited and recieved by a foriegn bank account.  Will I be forced to quit one of my jobs?  Does this mean i can collect unemployment compensation?   It would be great if we could get the facts on gambling in LOS, to stay in accordance with the Authorities.  By the way, its not gambling if you win.  Its a job like any other.

looks like its legal according to the report above, what limits/sites sites do you play on? I'd bet there are quite a few thaivisa members that play, perhaps we could all sit down one night

I'm not risking it till im back in the UK though

[george]

Please do not post links to betting sites here! Use PM or email instead.

Thanks for giving me sleep at night!

/Admin

[DaveYo]

Well there are some sites that you can obtain in getting encrypted data set up into your computer. In fact there are two of them of which one is probably the best there is, because it is virtually unbreakable and this has been tested and proven time and time again. The people who tested it are super experts who's main primary jobs is cracking codes on encrypted data. This particular item is the safest for anyone to use as they see fit.

Since George mentioned he wanted some sleep, I will let him zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Not want to bother a gentleman who is taking his siesta.

The other one mentioned here, has only been cracked once and ever since then, that loophole was fixed. So now that encrypted data is secured.

You have to pay for this kind of set up and it is reasonable to say the least. One thing for sure, it will truly give you some peace of mind so you can sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. As of the police cracking it forget it, cause this system is also used by the Pentagon's Nuclear Warheads now in USA. As we all know the Pentagon wants a fail safe system intact especially their encrypted data, so you know it is indeed good.

The best the police can do anywhere in the world is scratch their heads and wonder what they are looking at and what they have in front of them and eventually they will ho hum themselves to sleep too.

Daveyo

[Axel]

Obedient, as I am, I fully support the Thai government's decision to disallow gambling on the Euro 2004. I mean, these people should save their money and put it into the Liverpool-lottery, if and when it comes up.