Thai police raid casino near Malaysia border: report

Mar 29, 2016 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Thai police have raided an illegal casino near Thailand’s border with Malaysia, reports the Malaysian National News Agency, also known as Bernama.

The casino, at Sungai Kolok, in Thailand’s Narathiwat province, was reported by the agency to be catering for more than 1,000 customers per week, some of them making bets exceeding MYR10,000 (US$2,500).

The report quoted a Colonel Champon Klampasut, from Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Centre, saying the raid was conducted following intelligence on gambling activities at a hotel. He added that 10 rooms had been modified to allow organised gambling.

The report did not specify whether most of the customers were from Thailand or Malaysia. The nearest Malaysian town to the venue is Rantau Panjang, in Kelantan province.

Casinos are illegal in Thailand. In June 2015 the then national police chief, General Somyot Poompanmoung, supported the idea of legalising casinos in the kingdom, with social safeguards, saying there were as many as 30 of what he referred to as “gambling dens” on Thailand’s borders, serving Thai customers.

Malaysia has only one government-licensed casino, Resorts World Genting. It is operated by Genting Malaysia Bhd at Genting Highlands, located 430 kilometres (267 miles) south of the Thai border. Many of its local and international customers arrive at the resort via the nearby capital Kuala Lumpur.

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