Gambling, Betting

[OxfordWill]

Hey folks,

I enjoy a bit of sports betting now and then, always online.

So far I have never done so in Thailand as I have been unaware of the legalities. Does anyone know if this process is legal, and if so, what conditions such as tax etc are applicable?

Apologies for the naivety, I've never looked into it.

Thanks.

[Crazy Dave]

I believe that the only tax is the police tax if you are caught, trouble is if you are caught you have to pay this whether you won the bet or lost, I do believe there is a way that if you pay the police in advance of each bet ie a monthly fee it does work out a lot cheaper, anyway good luck

[konangrit]

The law is very vague on this, from what I have read, on-line betting isn't actually ilegal, although it is technically liable to taxation.

At the end of the day, if you're using foreign credit/debit cards on foreign sites and your winnings are getting paid into a foreign bank account, then there is no way for the authorities to know if you have placed any bets or not.

I have NEVER heard of anyone being prosecuted in Thailand for gambling on-line, in fact a policeman stated in a newspaper article during Euro 2004 that whilst on-line gambling is not ilegal in Thailand, anyone found to have placed any bets would be made to pay the appropriate tax. I assume this would apply to people paying from a Thai bank account.

I have read the Thai gambling legislation, unfortunately it is only in Thai and my Thai is not so good. It is, however a very old piece of legislation, so therefore was written without any concept of the internet or internet gambling. I'll try to find the Laws and post them here so that maybe a helpful member with a better knowledge of Thai than me can translate.

[mowlem]

I know that Thailand often tries to use old laws for new situations. The penalty for "interfering with royal communications" can be "death by elephant". It is under the same law computer hackers are charged with!!

The police do block access to various sites, but I haven't heard of anyone prosecuted. The siteowners argue it is a violation of WTO trade rules, (and I think will take on the US first) and maybe take it to arbitration, but don't hold your breath.

[konangrit]

OK, I found it.

Gambling Act, B.E. 2478 (1935)

Click on "Full Text" to see the legislation. Unfortunately there is no English translation.

As you can see the Gambling Act is nearly 70 years old, it is very unlikely that any provision was made to cover offshore gambling via the internet. The government is currently considering legalising casinos in certain circumstances, so I'd expect any new legislation to relax gambling laws rather than strengthening them to outlaw on-line overseas betting.

I'd appreciate it if someone with a decent knowledge of Thai could confirm or deny if this Act concurs with what I posted previously,

Good Luck,

Konangrit

[konangrit]

The siteowners argue it is a violation of WTO trade rules, (and I think will take on the US first) and maybe take it to arbitration, but don't hold your breath.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's true, infact I believe they have already started to take action against the US through the WTO.

[p1p]

I suggest you take legal advice from a practising Lawyer in the Kingdom. Any advice you recieve from Thaivisa is as likely as not to be wrong.

I am closing this thread because Gambling, in all its forms, is generally held to be illegal in Thailand.

Anybody who had genuine information to the contrary is welcome to post seperately.