Thailand police raids suspected gambling facility

Thailand police have raided a house in Bangkok’s Bang Phlat district on suspicion that an illegal gambling facility is functioning in the house. The police found eight staff members and ten computers in the three-story building. The police also recorded the presence of multiple security cameras in and around the house and electric fencing around the property.

The police raided the property after it received a tip-off that an online gambling website, 818Kiss, was being operated from the building.

The police seised bank books and a notebook detailing money coming in and going out. Pol Maj-General Apichart Sirisit, deputy chief of the Crime Suppression Division, said the raid had been carried out following complaints from people for police to suppress online gambling. Informants had tipped off the police that the house was being used for online gambling, including on football, baccarat and other card games, he said, adding that search warrants had therefore been obtained authorising the raid.

It is estimated that the 818Kiss website has thousands of members, and that the money from gambling on the site runs into millions of baht per month. Apichart said police had yet to investigate the ownership of the Bang Phlat property, and to establish whether there were other similar venues for 818Kiss online gambling elsewhere. Investors in the business could be Thais and Chinese nationals, he said. Police had also traced the house from an advertisement on Facebook inviting people to gamble, he added.