About 9,000 people arrested, with some 36 million baht involved in World Cup gambling

BANGKOK, July 4 (TNA) -- Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police Office, said that from June 14 to July 3 police arrested 9,420 people for alleged football gambling. They included 313 conventional gambling hosts, 8,710 conventional gamblers, 149 people who delivered bet orders, 79 online gambling hosts and 169 online gamblers. Besides, police seized 3.85 million baht in cash and 2.54 million baht in bank accounts and gathered bet records with a combined amount of 36.03 million baht believed to be involved in the gambling. Police kept a close watch on service parlors, entertainment venues, internet and game shops, banks, gold shops, convenience stores and ATMs to curb gambling and prevent related crime, the deputy police spokesman said. Deputy national police chief Chaloemkiat Sriworakhan said the number of people arrested for World Cup gambling rose by about 5,000 from the previous World Cup four years ago because people had easy access to World Cup gambling via mobile phones and application software. Police detectives did not find any police or military personnel involved in World Cup gambling this year, he said. (TNA)