More forms of gambling should be legalised, for example on football, to raise tax revenue, says Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsutin.

Mr Somsak said that legalising gambling was a different way of looking at the issue after the arrests of online gambling suspects and searches of houses on Monday.

Cyber crime police raided several places in Bangkok on Monday, including the houses of deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, as part of a crackdown on a large online gambling network.

"Gambling on fighting cocks and bulls is legal but other kinds of gambling, such as on football, are not," Mr Somsak said. 

He had ordered officials to review the possibility and the matter would be proposed to the cabinet later.

"It would be beneficial because online gambling involves huge amounts of money. If it were spent to help people with disabilities, elderly people and underprivileged children, it would go to good use," the deputy prime minister said.