PACC to release details on dens later

By The Nation on Sunday

Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission Secretary-General Ampol Wongsiri said yesterday that Justice Minister General Pracha Promnok backed the PACC to investigate gambling dens in Bangkok in a "straightforward and transparent" manner

Responding to a previous police claim that the PACC refused to share details about the dens, Ampol said police had sought information. But since police were under scrutiny, the group felt giving information to them would be improper and unjust, as the PACC's job was to check on state officials. Ampol said he had consulted with Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who concurred with the group.

Ampol said that he would wait for a committee, set up by a police inspector-general, to investigate police involvement in gambling dens before the PACC would reveal information and evidence. He said Pracha supported the PACC to work on the case straightforwardly and transparently.

In related news, in a bid to discourage people gambling, Sa Kaew Immigration Bureau's Aranyaprathet border officials yesterday strictly checked Thai people's ID cards and passports as they crossed the border to casinos in Cambodia over the weekends, after gambling dens in the capital were closed. They also aired a Buddhist monk's sermon on gambling as a vice. Yesterday about 5,000 Thais visited Poi Pet - about 4,000 were reported to be gamblers.

-- The Nation 2011-09-04

WOW! Strictly checking their passports as they cross the border AND a video of " a Buddhist monk's sermon on gambling as a vice."

I bet they've been reading Eliott Ness' biography.

Suggestion - if Thailand adopted US, UK and Oz type laws making Thai citizens prosecutable for sex crimes committed o/s, then extended it to gambling, the border casinos would close within a week.

if Thailand legalized gambling but taxed it and then came down HARD on illegal gambling.. that would work as well...

if Thailand legalized gambling but taxed it and then came down HARD on illegal gambling.. that would work as well...

Of course they should. Every other surrounding country has legalised gambling. Only the hiso's don't want it and of course the corruption continues.

Legalised gambling is great for those able to control their involvement. As I attribute it as the major cause of my divorce (my wife tried to extend the mortgage on our home without my knowledge - she never met a poker machine she didn't like) my feelings toward it are a tad biased.

A few years back, South Oz allowed poker machines in hotels. Within a few months, in a small town on the Eyre Peninsula, a long-running tyre retailing business went from profitable to bust. The consequences of legalizing gambling are much wider than at first glance.

Gambling and prostitution, aint never gonna stop either of them, its all to do with supply and demand. Best to accept that they exist, legalise them, and control them to some extent. Not to mention tne Billions of baht would flow from taxing them.

This trade will never be eliminated in Thailand. It is far too profitable and there are too many people who love to p*ss away cash on it.

if Thailand legalized gambling but taxed it and then came down HARD on illegal gambling.. that would work as well...

Of course they should. Every other surrounding country has legalised gambling. Only the hiso's don't want it and of course the corruption continues.

Not correct.....King Rama V did a trip to Europe, and when he came back decided that casino gambling would be very bad for Thailand. And that is why, to this day there is not gambling here. And Thaksin or any other group of rich hiso Thais that want to put in casinos, will have a tough path to go on....