Panels set up to curb gambling

Panels set up to curb gambling

Three sub-committees were set up yesterday to improve Covid-19 containment efforts by stamping out illegal gambling.

The move was announced by Chanchao Chaiyanukij, chairman of the main government panel set up to tackle gambling dens blamed for helping spread the pandemic.

He was speaking after chairing the first meeting of the committee.

Pol Lt Gen Sarawut Kanphanit, a police inspector-general, was appointed head of the first sub-committee responsible for pinpointing areas where illegal gambling dens are operating and identifying those behind them, said Mr Chanchao.

The second is headed by Phusit Somchit, an Interior Ministry inspector. This sub-committee is responsible for working out long-term measures for dealing with illegal gambling, he said.

Investigating the money trail of gambling dens is the responsibility of the third sub-committee, headed by Pol Col Akkharaphon Bunyopatsatam, deputy director-general of the Department of Special Investigation, said Mr Chanchao.

He said the first sub-committee will examine how police deal with illegal gambling under various jurisdictions. How local administrative organisations and provincial governors deal with such matters will also be looked at.

These panels will present their findings to the main committee which will compile a "confidential" report for Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, he said.

Gen Prayut will then pass the report to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration which will use it to decide how to improve its containment efforts, Mr Chanchao said.

Mr Phusit said his panel is focusing on suppressing illegal gambling activities linked to the spread of Covid-19.

Gambling dens often involve a large number of people packed into a small unregulated space providing a perfect breeding ground for the virus.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, meanwhile, said the gambling inspection committee and a separate committee formed to look at the involvement of state officials in illegal border crossings linked to the latest Covid-19 surge are required to report their findings to Gen Prayut.

They will probe officials who turn a blind eye to either illegal gambling dens or illegal entry by migrants, he said.

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