SOUTH EAST ASIA 42
GROSS GAMING REVENUE Government lottery THB150.4b Illegal lottery THB153.2b Football betting THB160.5b
Pattaya gambling bust nabs 19 Chinese
THAILAND
Betting ban no hurdle to Thais Thailand’s efforts to stop illegal gambling appear to be yielding little fruit, with a new survey showing just how widespread participation is in the Kingdom.
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he study by the Centre for Gambling Studies, Faculty of Economics, at Chulalongkorn University, found that 30.42 million Thais, or 57 percent of the population, have carried out some form of gambling activity in the past year, despite a government ban. The survey was based on data collected from 44,050 people across 77 provinces. The total figure is 1.49 million more than the last time the survey was carried out in 2017 and includes 700,000 first time gamblers. Of particular concern to authorities were the statistics showing how widespread gambling is among Thailand’s youth population. About 733,000 in the 15-18-year age bracket had participated, adding up to almost 21 percent of the youth population. Meanwhile, 3.05 million, or 46.3 percent of young adults aged 19-25, are also known to bet. In the senior group of aged 60 and above, a total of 3.35 million, or 42.2 percent of the senior population admitted they had gambled. The report said that the youngest gambler is seven years old. The only legal forms of gambling in Thailand are on horse racing at the
Asia Gaming Briefings | November 2019
Bangkok Turf Club and the government lottery. However, illegal gambling dens are widespread across the country, as are illegal lotteries and numbers games. Sports betting is also highly popular with Europe’s Premier League football enjoying an enormous following in Thailand. According to the study, betting on football generated the most revenue at THB160.5 billion ($5.3 billion), while illegal lotteries took in THB153.2 billion. The legal government lottery collected THB150.4 billion. The government regularly carries out raids against illegal operations, in particular around major sporting tournaments, though experts say it is nearly impossible to control. Some, such as Visanu Vongsinsirikul, a lecturer in economics at Dhurakij Pandit University, have forecast the government will eventually legalise casinos as it eyes lost revenue to the increasing number of legal jurisdictions across Asia. Neighbouring Myanmar recently passed a bill paving the way to an IR industry, while resorts targeting Thais are proliferating in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Nineteen Chinese nationals were arrested in September for running an online gambling operation from Pattaya, with THB 8 million ($263,000) in daily circulation, according to the police. The raid was conducted on three condominium rooms in the tambon Nong Prue of Bang Lamung district. Around 10 laptops, 300 mobile phones and details of electronic accounts were seized. Police Major General Nanthachart Supamongkhol, chief of Chon Buri police, said the raid was planned after Nong Prue police were tipped off that there were many Chinese nationals often gathered in the condominium rooms, attracting people’s suspicion. The suspects had been hired by a gambling boss in China to run a gambling operation in Thailand. They entered the country on tourist visas.
Thais warned of online data breach The Thailand Emergency Response Team recently issued a warning that about 41 million items of information, 3.3 million of them belonging to Thais doing transactions with overseas gambling websites, had been leaked. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) warned Thais to immediately cancel any credit cards that may have been used during online gambling transactions. Those who have registered with the websites should change their passwords linked with internet and mobile banking and stay alert to “suspicious contact” by criminals who may obtain personal data like phone numbers and email addresses, The BoT said.
