Police have intensified a crackdown on online gambling ahead of the Fifa World Cup this month, targeting football betting websites and social media channels.
Pol Lt Gen Trairong Piwpan, deputy director of the Technology Crime Suppression Centre and spokesman for the Royal Thai Police, said Pol Gen Kittharath Punpetch had ordered a nationwide crackdown on all forms of online gambling, including investigations, arrests and the blocking of online platforms.
Between Oct 1, 2025, and May 20, 2026, police blocked 717,425 URLs linked to gambling activities on platforms including Facebook, Line and TikTok.
Police have also stepped up enforcement against gambling networks, identifying 309 online gambling websites as priority targets for operations in May and June. Arrest warrants have been issued and some suspects detained, while investigators continue to expand probes into related networks.
Particular attention is being paid to football betting ahead of the World Cup, with police instructed to monitor and prevent young people from becoming involved in online gambling, he said.
Pol Lt Gen Trairong said police are using artificial intelligence to detect gambling-related content more quickly and accurately, enabling faster action to block websites and social media accounts promoting betting activities.
He said online gambling operators had shifted from traditional mule accounts to more sophisticated financial channels, including corporate accounts, PayPal services, cross-border intermediaries and cryptocurrencies.
