Luxury Villa Raided: Russian Gamblers Caught Playing Poker with Nearly 2 Million Baht in Chips

[webfact]

 

On January 23, 2024, under the command of Police Major General Naphan Watthi, the Phuket Provincial Police, led by Police Colonel Somsak Luemsuang executed a search warrant at a luxurious villa in Rawai Subdistrict, Phuket. The operation targeted a group of foreign nationals suspected of engaging in illegal poker gambling.

 

Upon arriving at the villa, the police officers apprehended five individuals:

 

Mr. Aleksander C., 36, Russian, Passport No. 15...
Mr. Vasilii P., 39, Russian, Passport No. 18...
Mr. Pavel M., 38, Russian, Passport No. 75...
Mr. Yefgeni V., 23, Russian, Passport No. 77...
Ms. Yekaterina S., 36, Russian, Passport No. 77...

 

In addition to the arrests, the authorities seized various items, including poker tables, playing cards, gambling chips, and financial records. The confiscated assets amounted to approximately 2 million Baht, reported 77kaoded.

 

The suspects are facing charges related to illegal gambling, possession of untaxed goods, and involvement in unauthorized gambling activities. They have been taken into custody, and the evidence will be used to proceed with legal actions.

 

-- ASEAN NOW 2024-01-23

 

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[zhounan]

Even if one plays at home among friends, is it illegal?

[mokwit]

9 minutes ago, zhounan said:

Even if one plays at home among friends, is it illegal?

Yes, although it is not specifically delineated in the terms of an Ed visa that you are forbidden from gambling.

[ChaiyaTH]

54 minutes ago, zhounan said:

Even if one plays at home among friends, is it illegal?

Yes, it is illegal to have a pack of cards in the first place. Miss the days in Phnom Penh where I would casually be able to join games for 1-2-5 dollar (fixed buy-ins) while having a few beers and a joint. Made it more fun.

[Gottfrid]

2 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Yes, it is illegal to have a pack of cards in the first place.

No, it´s not illegal to have a pack of cards. They are sold by many 7Eleven shops. What is illegal is to gamble about money.

However, 2 million baht in chips! That´s what we can start call a real game. 

[ChaiyaTH]

3 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

No, it´s not illegal to have a pack of cards. They are sold by many 7Eleven shops. What is illegal is to gamble about money.

However, 2 million baht in chips! That´s what we can start call a real game. 

The Playing Cards Act prohibits private ownership of more than 120 playing cards without approval of the government. Ever actually gambled? Knowing how many cards one need? Remains funny how the youngest of expats seem to know more about the fine details. 

[Gottfrid]

12 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The Playing Cards Act prohibits private ownership of more than 120 playing cards without approval of the government. Ever actually gambled? Knowing how many cards one need? Remains funny how the youngest of expats seem to know more about the fine details. 

Yeah, maybe you know more as I did not know about the limit law of 120 playing cards. However, maybe the youngest of expats seem to know more, but in reality not even know the meaning of what they post. 

You posted:

18 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Yes, it is illegal to have a pack of cards in the first place.

I answered, it was not illegal to own a pack of cards. After that you post this:

 

15 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The Playing Cards Act prohibits private ownership of more than 120 playing cards without approval of the government.

Does that not mean you were wrong posting that you can not even have a pack of cards? To me it seems to imply that you can own 2 packs, that are also called deck of card but where each one are sold in a single package (pack).

To answer your question if I have ever played, the answer is yes. Actually a lot of times. I have even been working as a dealer as well as a croupier.

[Kildonan]

Remember when the Bridge Club was raided? How many packs of cards? 

[ChipButty]

35 minutes ago, Kildonan said:

Remember when the Bridge Club was raided? How many packs of cards? 

That was funny I remember that, they also had one in Phuket that never got raided, 

[ChipButty]

Only half a story again does my head in, where in Rawai? OK I got it from the main article the translation on that web site is garbage, some fair sized villas down that soi, Little Moscow 

 

 

[Andre0720]

I was not feeling very safe lately, for some reason.

Knowing about this, if I still feel unsafe, I will know that this was not the cause.

[ChipButty]

7 minutes ago, Andre0720 said:

I was not feeling very safe lately, for some reason.

Knowing about this, if I still feel unsafe, I will know that this was not the cause.

Why? do you live next door? 

[Andre0720]

6 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

Why? do you live next door? 

What an incredibly stupid question..... Hehe

[KannikaP]

But it would have been OK if the Russians had put their Bht 2M on the Lottery.

[Peabody]

How do they place a baht value on plastic chips?

[IAMHERE]

1 hour ago, Peabody said:

How do they place a baht value on plastic chips?

Check Lasada is where I'd start.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, zhounan said:

Even if one plays at home among friends, is it illegal?

No.... but millions do it every day

[shackleton]

Glad to see the Russian quality Tourists Thailand has welcomed in to Phuket 

Enjoying a game of  Poker in a luxury villa 

No doubt will be contributing a bit of 💰 to get themselves out of this predicament  

[Tequila makes me happy]

4 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The Playing Cards Act prohibits private ownership of more than 120 playing cards without approval of the government. Ever actually gambled? Knowing how many cards one need? Remains funny how the youngest of expats seem to know more about the fine details. 

Well I'll be, my wife has maintained for years that cards were illegal and she'd stress when I'd play solitaire  on the bus. I just put it down to a Thai wives' tale. 

BTW, I also miss the days of playing poker with Walkabouts Glen at little Glen's bar down at the Quay in Phnom Penh. 

[mokwit]

1 hour ago, shackleton said:

Glad to see the Russian quality Tourists Thailand has welcomed in to Phuket 

Enjoying a game of  Poker in a luxury villa 

No doubt will be contributing a bit of 💰 to get themselves out of this predicament  

They were just whiling away the time before their Thai language classes.

 

I expect to see the requirements for whatever visa type they were on tightened up in light of this blatant criminality - obviously the current criteria are "too easy".

[ujayujay]

7 hours ago, zhounan said:

Even if one plays at home among friends, is it illegal?

Yup!

[bradiston]

3 hours ago, Peabody said:

How do they place a baht value on plastic chips?

You buy them for cash, say 1000, 5000, 10000 THB face value, and at the end of the session, cash them in.

[bradiston]

16 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

Yup!

Agree. My ex wife used to play. They usually had a lookout for fuzz. Just village people, you understand. But the stakes got ridiculously high. My crazy sister in law lost her pickup in one hand. In the wrong hands, a deck of cards becomes a lethal weapon.

 

In Vietnam I've seen games on trains stop, everything cleared away, every time the guard came through, then restart when he was gone.

[ChipButty]

13 minutes ago, bradiston said:

My crazy sister in law lost her pickup in one hand. In the wrong hands, a deck of cards becomes a lethal weapon.

 

 

Ive heard all the stories over the years around where I live, a friend of mine lost his truck and his wife tried to make out it got stolen but we knew she lost it gambling, I knew of another one who lost a piece of land 3 million, 

Then another one lost her restaurant,  

[steven100]

35 minutes ago, ujayujay said:

Yup!

no .....   it's not illegal to play cards at home .....  it's illegal to gamble on the cards while playing at home. 

[bradiston]

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

no .....   it's not illegal to play cards at home .....  it's illegal to gamble on the cards while playing at home. 

So a quiet game of Beggar my Neighbour won't end up in a Hillies versus the Billies shoot out? Where's the fun in that?

[steven100]

it's not that hard to find a gambling den in Bangkok,  you just have to know the right people ...

every now and then one gets raided ....  probably because there was no tea money ...

prostitution is illegal,  so there's no prostitution in Thailand ....   don't you know   !

[crazykopite]

Gambling is prohibited but you can buy as many government lottery tickets as you Ike for the twice monthly lottery is that not gambling and let’s face it you gamble every day when you cross the road or get into a vehicle 

[Peabody]

8 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Check Lasada is where I'd start.

Plastic chips in 4 colors: 48 thb/69 chips.

How many friggin' chips did they have??  That's like ~2.8 million chips.   /s

[CashMoon]

a week ago while stalking a russian girl i saw this type of villa-casino as a sponsored post on a social media site called vk. i think there are many villa casinos like this? they seemed to be comfortable enough to post sponsored ads and not be afraid of anyone.. 

 

most likely 4 out of 5 people are teammates, 1 is a victim.