Officials in Bang Lamung are now enforcing Thai gambling laws on claw machine games, especially during the upcoming school holidays.
The meeting yesterday was led by the Bang Lamung District Administrative Chief officer Chawat Theptat. Dozens of police officials attended the meeting.
Any machine where players lose or win possessions is classified as gambling under the Thai Gambling Act. A license is required to operate gambling machines. Thailand has some of the strictest anti-gambling laws in the world.
Most of the claw machine games in the local area are found in department stores and convenience stores. Most of the players are students and youths.
The punishment for offending the law of having claw machines is imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 2,000 baht.
Several months ago local officials had a short crackdown on the machines but they have begun to reappear in local arcades and malls.
