BANGKOK – Police have arrested 58 people involved in illegal punting and bookmaking, and closed 391 foreign and local betting websites as the World Cup tournament kicked off early yesterday, a senior police commander said.
Of the suspects, seven are alleged bookmakers, 49 punters and another two are bet couriers, Pol Lt-General Anant Srihiran said. He is in charge of the police office assigned to tackle illegal soccer gambling during the global tournament.
Police also arrested three suspects against whom 10 calls had been made to the 1599 hotline.
Anant said the arrests of the 58 people had resulted in the seizure of Bt41,430 (S$1,600) in cash and four bankbooks with deposits totalling Bt99,530.
As many as 391 betting websites have been blocked, he said, adding that police were monitoring and blocking all attempts to reopen the websites under new URLs.