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Thai Police On High Alert To Catch World Cup Punters


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Thai police on high alert to catch World Cup punters

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Police across Thailand are setting up special 24-hour centres to crack down on betting ahead of the World Cup 2010 amid fears that many football fans will break laws banning gambling.

Despite the threat of fines and imprisonment, Thai punters are expected to spend more than one billion dollars on the matches in South Africa starting this month.

"At Bangkok Metropolitan Police we have already started a centre and it will run around the clock until the World Cup ends," said spokesman Major General Piya Uthayo, adding that each provincial force would set up its own centre.

"More people are turning to online gambling so we have to be more up-to-date, but some still gamble at local bookies," he said. Police computer experts are being mobilised to handle Internet betting.

Under the kingdom's gambling law, which is more than 70 years old, gamblers face fines of 1,000 baht or jail terms of up to one year.

Many Thais get around the ban by heading to neighbouring Cambodia and Myanmar where casinos dot the border.

The Economic and Business Forecast Centre at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce estimates that Thai people will spend 37.2 billion baht (1.1 billion US dollars) gambling on this year's World Cup.

During Euro 2008, more than 1,000 people were arrested in Thailand for gambling on football matches, with nearly one million baht (30,000 dollars) in cash seized.

afplogo.jpg

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-06-03

Published with written approval from AFP.

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Posted

Surely the headline should read: "Thai Police on high alert to fleece World Cup punters".

The current headline is misleading, as it suggests that the police are interested in curtailing the activity, rather than cashing in....

Posted

Good to see they have their priorities straight. Things like this and inspecting tourists' pockets are much more important than stopping idiots from going around with guns and grenade launchers.

Good time to be a member of the RTPF, what with these new opportunities and all the $$ they got for looking the other way for over 2 months.

Posted

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Many Thais get around the ban by heading to neighbouring Cambodia and Myanmar where casinos dot the border.

Should read...

Many Thais get around the ban by paying the police to have gambling schools....

Posted

just another method to make this country, more unpleasant and childish, so ovious to extort money from tourists. nothing else to do, :) BIB ? not enough traffic money to make any more, after their NONACTION against the red they need an other income...

Posted

Forget stopping Red shirts stocking weapons and harassing the populace,

but lets clamp down on bettors...

wait that have money to take,

much better time spent.

Posted

In an area where I once lived, all the money lending and illegal gambling was run by the Police.

Maybe they just want to get rid of the competition.

Posted

The gambling laws are confusing here at times.

Whilst it appears to be an absolute blanket ban on all forms of gambling (except for the lottery and horses), some of the larger books have sites in Thai script, can work in the Baht and even work in transactions from and to Thai banks and cards.

Posted

This certainly is a problem that should be given top priority. I applaud the finest law enforcement agency known to man. How does the BIB exist in their current state? It is shocking that Thai people put up with them. Everybody should just say no to bribing them. What could they do if everybody told them to F off all at once? How can anybody take the laws of Thailand seriously given such moral bankruptcy on the part of the police?

I thought the police were the ones that ran the illegal gambling operations?

I guess though if Thai people don't care I shouldn't either.

Posted

Now we see the real reason for the police reluctance to stop the protests. All those red shirts with weeks of protest money in their pockets just waiting for the police to take it off them.

Posted

So we have a country that has large scale civil unrest problems and they announce a massive 24/7 crackdown on petty crime.

I would liken this to setting up a massive 24/7 well manned patrol during the blitz to crack down on littering.

Posted
Surely the headline should read: "Thai Police on high alert to fleece World Cup punters".

The current headline is misleading, as it suggests that the police are interested in curtailing the activity, rather than cashing in....

Maybe they are trying to find out how abd where to watch it without buying another card and box from True Divisions?

Posted
In an area where I once lived, all the money lending and illegal gambling was run by the Police.

Maybe they just want to get rid of the competition.

It is run by the police everywhere. Where I used to live in a small town in Phayao my ex-bro-in-law was the son of a local police chief, they had a dozen tables full 24/7 --- 90% police and their families. They charged for the tables by the hour, supplied them with booze and grub too, nice little earner!

Posted
In an area where I once lived, all the money lending and illegal gambling was run by the Police.

Maybe they just want to get rid of the competition.

Same where i come from some one dies then the family will pay the police (500 baht) so they can gamble for 3

days...Thai police are all bent as a butchers hook if you

Posted
What could they do if everybody told them to F off all at once?

They could shoot you.

Yes they could shoot me, if it was just me. What if every bar they went to get some tea money from all told them no for example? If every motorbike driver they sweat for cash just plainly refused. They kill them all? Problem is somebody has to go first and they would be shot. LOL there seems to be no solution.

Anyway this is off topic so we should just end it at that. Sorry to hijack the thread.

Posted

Pathetic .....pathetic...pathetic Thailand....."all sorts of gambling is banned"...except the Govt lottery and the horses...so....gambling is not therefore banned is it...??? duhhhh....."all types of prostitution is banned" should now read...."except missionary and BJ positions"...BIB "policing" and setting up 24 hour surveillance centres...and on "high alert" for the expected cashflow...oops sorry.. for the illegal betting that is going to take place....c'mon Thailand you are becoming a joke...get the BIB off their lumpy wallet filled backsides and doing something constructive...

Posted

Its no laughing matter, gambling along with drinking, drugs and prostituition are a sure way to ruin and perpertrators should burn in hel_l!!!

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