{"id":777005270,"date":"2023-05-16T13:29:31","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T16:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777005270"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:57:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:57:02","slug":"thailand-30-arrested-for-alleged-illegal-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-30-arrested-for-alleged-illegal-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Thailand: 30 arrested for alleged illegal gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police arrested 30 suspects linked to an illegal gambling syndicate allegedly run by a fugitive police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- Police in Thailand have arrested 30 people linked to a suspected criminal network<\/strong> led by a fugitive police official. The news comes months after the police lieutenant Wasawat Mukurasakul, known as “Inspector Sua,” was accused of involvement in illicit activities, including illegal gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CocoNuts, police carried out a series of raids at 39 locations across the country. Those arrested face accusations of operating a covert criminal organisation, running illegal gambling operations, and engaging in money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national police chief, Damrongsak Kittiprapas<\/strong>, said the investigation into had been ongoing since February, initiated shortly after Chuwit Kamolvisit, an ex-politician turned anti-cannabis advocate, publicly exposed Mukurasakul as the alleged mastermind of an online gambling empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, 57 arrests have been made<\/strong>, accompanied by the seizure of assets worth THB7bn (US$206m). These assets include extensive land holdings, luxury vehicles, and significant cryptocurrency holdings. <\/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":"

Police arrested 30 suspects linked to an illegal gambling syndicate allegedly run by a fugitive police officer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":26706,"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 have arrested 30 individuals, bringing the total to 57, linked to an extensive illegal online gambling and money laundering syndicate allegedly led by a fugitive police officer, \"Inspector Sua.\" The operation has resulted in the seizure of assets valued at THB7bn (US$206m), highlighting significant illicit financial flows within the unregulated sector. This crackdown occurs amidst ongoing legislative discussions regarding the potential legalization of integrated resorts and casinos in Thailand, underscoring the dichotomy between current illicit market activities and future regulated market opportunities.","focusai_entities":"Wasawat Mukurasakul, Damrongsak Kittiprapas, Chuwit Kamolvisit","focusai_location":"Thailand, Bangkok, Eastern Economic Corridor","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Thailand Casino Governance?","query":"What specific governance frameworks are being considered for the proposed legal casino market in Thailand to prevent similar illicit activities and ensure robust regulatory compliance?"},{"label":"Illicit Market GGR Impact?","query":"What is the estimated Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) of the illicit online gambling market in Thailand, and how does this compare to potential Net Gaming Revenue (NGR) projections for a future regulated market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777005270","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\/777005270","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=777005270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777005270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777005298,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777005270\/revisions\/777005298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777005270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777005270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777005270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}