{"id":777004880,"date":"2023-05-04T13:08:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T16:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777004880"},"modified":"2026-04-22T22:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:19:23","slug":"thailand-83-arrested-in-raid-on-illegal-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-83-arrested-in-raid-on-illegal-casino","title":{"rendered":"Thailand: 83 arrested in raid on illegal casino"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thai police have arrested 93 suspects, including 80 Indian tourists, in a raid on a luxury hotel in Pattaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- Police in Thailand <\/strong>have arrested 93 people in a raid on an alleged illegal casino operating in a luxury hotel in the city of Pattaya. Those arrested include 80 Indian tourists, six Thais and four Myanmar nationals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The raid followed a tip-off from the public. Police say several gambling tables, chips, cards, CCTV cameras, smartphones were seized along with Indian currency. According to the Bangkok Post, a prominent Indian casino junket operator, his assistant and some politicians were also among those arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to reports, the Indian gamblers were charged 50,000 baht (US$1,460) each for lodging, food, flights, and transport. A Thai suspect has reportedly confessed to running the gambling business at the rented facility and claimed that the gambling equipment came from India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thai police said they are investigating claims government officials knew about the casino’s existence but took bribes to turn a blind eye. A number of undocumented workers were reportedly employed by the business. Thanapong Phothi <\/strong>of the Pattaya police department said legal action would be taken against officials if they are found responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Thailand, gambling is illegal except for horse racing and the national lottery. A violation of the Gambling Act can result in up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 20,000 baht. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, a project surfaced to legalise casinos in Thailand<\/a>. A House committee<\/strong> proposed opening casinos to Thais and foreigners, but Thais would have to be at least 21 years old and have at least 500,000 baht in their bank accounts<\/strong> within the past six months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House Committee suggested Bangkok, the Eastern Economic Corridor, 22 tourist provinces and border provinces with immigration checkpoints as potential sites for casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thai police have arrested 93 suspects, including 80 Indian tourists, in a raid on a luxury hotel in Pattaya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":25346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Thai police conducted a raid on an illicit gambling operation in a luxury Pattaya hotel, arresting 93 individuals, including 80 Indian tourists and a prominent Indian casino junket operator. This incident underscores the ongoing challenges of illegal gambling enforcement in Thailand, particularly amidst recent legislative proposals to establish a regulated casino market.","focusai_entities":"Pattaya police department, Thanapong Phothi, Bangkok Post","focusai_location":"Thailand, Pattaya, India, Myanmar, Bangkok, Eastern Economic Corridor","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Framework Impact","query":"How might this high-profile enforcement action against an illegal casino operation influence the legislative timeline and specific provisions of Thailand's proposed regulated casino framework, particularly concerning B2C licensing and governance?"},{"label":"Investment Climate Risk","query":"What are the implications of alleged official corruption and persistent illegal gambling activities on the perceived investment attractiveness and enterprise risk assessment for international operators considering market entry into a future regulated Thai gaming sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777004880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004880","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\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777004880"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777004918,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777004880\/revisions\/777004918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777004880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777004880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777004880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}