One hundred and twenty-six people were arrested for betting on the 2024 UEFA European Football Championships (Euro 2024) matches on Friday and Saturday, the Royal Thai Police announced on Monday.
Out of the 126, six were arrested for facilitating betting on the matches, while 117 were nabbed for taking part in illegal betting. The rest, according to assistant national police chief Pol Lt Gen Akkaradej Pimolsri, distributed tickets to gamblers.
Most of those arrested were caught betting on results while watching the matches at nightclubs and other venues which broadcasted the matches live, he said.
About 150 betting tickets were seized as evidence, along with some 11,000 baht in cash, he said.
Following these crackdowns, police stations nationwide have been instructed to scale up the suppression of football gambling, including online betting rings, he said.
Night entertainment venues showing live broadcasts of the Euros will be monitored particularly closely, he said.
Members of the public are also encouraged to submit tip-offs of football gambling activities via the police's 191 or 1599 hotline numbers around the clock, he said.
A recent survey by the Centre for Gambling Studies at Chulalongkorn University found close to three million young people had engaged in some form of online gambling in the past year, leading to a combined debt of over 770 million baht.
The survey, which was carried out using several methods, including face-to-face interviews, was conducted between Jan 20 and Feb 24 last year. In total, 5,010 people aged 15 to 25 years old across 19 provinces took part in the survey.
