Questions raised over effectiveness of online gambling enforcement in Thailand

Former MP Sirichoke Sopha says 29 of 30 gambling websites he checked remained accessible.

Key takeaways:

• Former MP Sirichoke Sopha claims 29 of 30 gambling websites he checked remained accessible in Thailand despite the Digital Economy and Society Ministry’s claims to have blocked 945,075 gambling-related links.
• Sirichoke questioned whether authorities were blocking secondary links while leaving the main gambling websites accessible.
• The former MP urged authorities to investigate financial flows, including possible cryptocurrency transfers.

Thailand.- Former Democrat Party MP Sirichoke Sopha has questioned the effectiveness of Thailand’s crackdown on online gambling. He says major betting websites are still reachable after authorities announced they had blocked nearly a million links.

In a social media post, Sirichoke said 29 of 30 gambling websites he checked remained accessible in Thailand and that five well-known platforms accessible through their original addresses received a combined 1.43 million visits from the country each month.

The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry had reported blocking 945,075 gambling-related links. Sirichoke questioned how many of those were main websites versus secondary or backup pages, suggesting that authorities appear to be cutting off minor links while leaving the core sites intact.

Sirichoke challenged DES Minister Chaichanok Chidchob to explain why the major platforms remain available. He recalled the minister’s opposition to a proposed entertainment complex that would include a casino and argued that online gambling posed a larger threat. He urged authorities to examine financial flows, including possible cryptocurrency transfers, to identify who is financing and benefiting from any protection arrangements.

He also mentioned Shuffle.com, which restricted access from Thailand after he previously raised allegations linking the operation to an MP. Sirichoke suggested the restriction may have been intended to avoid further scrutiny.