Illegal Internet gambling hits Sa Kaew

The move has proved popular among Thai youths in Sa Kaew who prefer it to the usual football betting.

TOT officials from Aranyaprathet went to investigate phone lines at the Thai-Cambodian Friendship Bridge yesterday morning following information they had been illegally connected to the Poipet casinos to give them high-speed Internet access for the gambling websites.

Yutthaphan Jeerapong, a TOT executive, said the initial inspection found two unauthorised phone lines linking the TOT signal to Poipet.

Yutthaphong said tracing found the unauthorised lines went from a signal processing box on the second floor of a shop in Rong Kluea Market. The fibre optic cables found they were made by CAT Telecom and TTT and the suspicions are that signals have been stolen and smuggled into Cambodia to avoid paying taxes and TOT signal fees.

Meanwhile, the number of gamblers crossing the border over Chinese New Year was down on previous years. Authorities had recently been looking at ways to discourage the usual 5,000 Thai gamblers, attracted by the nine casinos across from Aranyaprathet's Ban Khlong Leuk border checkpoint, from crossing the border.

A source at a Poipet casino said the reason there were fewer gamblers crossing the border was because two casinos in Poipet had launched online gambling websites.

The source said the websites were very popular and had a total of 5,000 members raising an alleged daily cash flow of Bt1 billion.

The village headman in Sa Kaew, who asked not to be named, confirmed the existence of a gambling web site hosted by G-Club casino and further revealed that many youths frequented Internet Cafes preferring to gamble on the Internet instead of betting on the football.

He admitted to gambling online and to losing Bt5 million. The headman said he still owed another Bt1 million and the casino had recently sent a gunman to warn him to repay the debt or he would be killed.

He said he had had to hire a bodyguard to protect him. He urged the authorities to look into the problems of online gambling to prevent youths becoming mired in debt like himself.

The Nation

Sa Kaew