{"id":15117,"date":"2021-02-23T15:58:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T15:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=15117"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:36:12","slug":"thailand-98-arrests-during-illegal-gambling-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-98-arrests-during-illegal-gambling-crackdown","title":{"rendered":"Thailand: 98 arrests during illegal gambling crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A government official disclosed that around 1.9bn baht is in circulation through illegal gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Thailand.- According to the country&#8217;s digital economy and society minister, Buddhipongse Punnakanta, <strong>98 arrests have been made <\/strong>in under two months since the Thai government launched its crackdown on <strong><em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-cracks-down-on-illegal-gambling-dens\" target=\"_blank\">illegal gambling<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Suspects have been detained in <strong>Phitsanulok, Chon Buri, Chachoengsao <\/strong>and<strong> Bangkok.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The minister said that since January 1 about <strong>1.9bn baht has been in circulation <\/strong>from illegal gambling activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Police obtained information throughout the crackdown using a <strong>ministry Facebook page through which the public could make tipoffs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most high-profile cases saw police <strong>arrest the former boxer and House gambling advisor<\/strong> <strong><em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-govt-adviser-arrested-over-alleged-online-gambling-network\" target=\"_blank\">Siapo Po-arnon<\/a><\/em><\/strong> after investigating an alleged online gambling network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A government official disclosed that around 1.9bn baht is in circulation through illegal gambling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Thai government has intensified its crackdown on illegal gambling, leading to 98 arrests and the disclosure of approximately 1.9 billion baht in illicit circulation since January 1. This enforcement action, leveraging public tip-offs, highlights the significant scale of unregulated gaming activities within the jurisdiction.","focusai_entities":"Buddhipongse Punnakanta, Siapo Po-arnon, Thai government, House","focusai_location":"Thailand, Phitsanulok, Chon Buri, Chachoengsao, Bangkok","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulated Market Outlook","query":"Given the significant illicit capital flows identified, what are the current political and economic indicators suggesting a potential shift towards a regulated iGaming market in Thailand, and what governance frameworks might be considered?"},{"label":"Enforcement Strategy Efficacy","query":"Beyond arrests, what specific measures are being implemented to dismantle the financial infrastructure supporting these illegal gambling networks, and what is the projected impact on the 1.9 billion baht in circulation?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[229,512,4138],"class_list":["post-15117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-gaming","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15141,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15117\/revisions\/15141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}