Pattaya —
Pattaya police raided a house in Pattaya today, believed to be the base of a major Indian online gambling operation. The raid uncovered evidence of daily transactions worth over 200 million rupees or around 100 million Thai baht.
A video of the raid can be seen here on our YouTube channel.
The raid was conducted at 12 PM today, June 11th, by a team of police officers from the Chonburi Provincial Police, the Pattaya Police, the Nongprue Police, the Anti-Transnational Crime Division, and the Pattaya Tourist Police.
Officers obtained a search warrant from the Pattaya Provincial Court after receiving intelligence from concerned citizens about the illegal gambling operation conducted at a house on Soi Sukhumvit 91/2 in Pattaya.
Over 50 officers surrounded the house in question, and upon entering, police found nearly 10 Indian men working on computers and taking phone calls related to various online gambling games, including baccarat, poker, slots, and sports betting. Officers then went to inspect an upstairs bedroom where they found another group of Indian nationals sleeping.
The suspects were escorted downstairs. It was understood that all 21 suspects are Indian nationals, some with student and tourist visas, while others did not have passports. Police did not identify them. None had legal work visas or work permits, not that these are available for running illegal gambling websites.
The arresting team seized a large quantity of evidence from the scene, including four desktop computers, eight laptops, over 50 mobile phones, and numerous Thai SIM cards. They also found three clocks displaying the time in India, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), and Thailand, as well as handwritten notes in Hindi detailing work schedules, bank account numbers, and gambling rules, stickered around the housewalls.
According to the notes, the operation had over 200 million rupees or 100 million baht in daily transactions.
During initial questioning, one of the arrested men revealed that they rented the house for 30,000 baht per month since August 2023. Their duty was to act as call center operators to handle money transfers for seven online gambling websites with servers located in the Philippines. The majority of the customers were from India, with some from Dubai. Each man worked for 8 hours a day.
According to the police, some of the men entered Thailand legally, while others have overstayed their passports. Police believed some suspects were not present at the time of the raid and were still on the run within Chonburi.
All suspects have been detained and will face charges related to illegal gambling and immigration offenses before being deported and blacklisted from Thailand.