A total of 2,811 football gambling bosses, bet-takers and gamblers in Bangkok have been found guilty by the court and ordered to pay fines of Bt2.811 million, said a senior Bangkok police officer on Friday.
Pol Maj-General Phanurat Lakboon, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, updated the press on progress in the May 1 to June 28 operation against football gambling.
Phanurat said the convicted included 49 bookmakers – 36 of them operating online betting websites – and over 2,700 punters. The rest worked for the gambling bosses, taking bets for them.
The bookmakers were fined Bt1,000 each and were jailed for three months, while the gamblers and employees were fined Bt1,000 each, he said.
Police have also seized Bt183,535 in cash and have sought the cooperation of banks to freeze the accounts of bookmakers worth Bt27 million.
Phanurat said police have also launched an awareness campaign at 4,325 schools reaching 4.3 million students to warn them not to gamble on football matches. The campaigns were also carried out in 5,217 entertainment venues and 16,483 other places, Phanurat added.
