WORLD CUP PUNTERS

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Hundreds arrested in gambling sweep

 

The Nation 21/06/06

 

More than 300 held in Bangkok alone; suspects' bets amount to Bt200 million

 

 

Bangkok police have in the past 11 days netted over 300 football gamblers, who ran up bets of nearly Bt200 million, while Provincial Police Region 3 nabbed 63 punters - 23 in Nakhon Ratchasima alone.

 

 

Deputy Metropolitan Police chief Maj-General Jes Mongkolhatthi, who heads the crackdown on World Cup betting in the capital, said that from June 9 to Monday, the special unit had nabbed 305 gamblers - 56 of them bookies - and seized Bt257,000 in cash. The bookies were suspected of handling bets worth over Bt185 million.

 

 

Metropolitan Police Division 8 had the most success with 62 people arrested, followed by Division 4 with 60, Division 2 with 44, and Division 1 with 42, he said. These areas had concentrations of factories, educational institutions, apartments and entertainment venues.

 

 

Yesterday, six bookies and 37 punters were taken in along with Bt11,650. The alleged betting by suspects was worth almost Bt100,000, Jes said.

 

 

However, 12 blacklisted major bookies remain at large as they managed to shift betting methods to avoid arrest.

 

 

Metropolitan Police commissioner Lt-General Wiroj Chantarangsri urged teachers and parents to keep a close eye on their students and children and not let them become victims of gambling.

 

 

They should check the youths' mobile phone records because police suspect youths were using cell phones to place bets with bookies, making it difficult for police to catch anyone.

 

 

Provincial Police Region 3 said they had nabbed 63 football gamblers - 23 bookmakers, five ticket runners and 35 punters. Nakhon Ratchasima caught the highest number at 23 gamblers followed by Ubon Ratchathani at 15.

 

 

Many students in Maha Sarakham's Muang district were turning to private pawnshops, leaving as a deposit their ATM card connected to their student loan, to get quick cash, which most then spent playing the odds on soccer matches.

 

 

Pon, last name withheld, said she was seeing about 10 students a day coming to her pawnshop, compared to one or two such customers before the tournament started. For a short-term loan, the shop charges 10 per cent per month.

 

 

Recently a Rajabhat University student receiving Bt2,000 a month from his student loan was given Bt1,800, she said. Then at the end of the month, the shop would use his ATM card to withdraw Bt2,000 from his bank account before returning the card to him.

 

 

For a three-month loan, a student with Bt2,000 monthly payments would get Bt4,800 in cash up front and the monthly interest would be 20 per cent, she said. The shop would withdraw Bt2,000 a month from his bank account until the three-month period ended, before returning the card to him.

 

 

A woman student who asked not to be named said the method was popular among students who were short of cash but wanted to gamble or go out at night or go shopping for clothes.

 

 

Mobile phones put up by students as deposits for cash loans also jumped to about 30-40 a day, said a mobile phone shop owner in Maha Sarakham's Serm Thai Plaza shopping mall.

 

 

Suratin Narapirom, vice president for student affairs at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University, said staff had heard about this trend of abusing student ATM cards and would watch for miscreants and punish them.