PUBLISHED: 7 Feb 2025 at 04: 00
A conference was held on Thursday to discuss how easy it is for young people to access online betting and other criminal activities.
During the forum, the Thailand Youth Institute ( TYI ) and its network released a 2024 report on online gambling surveillance, which showed that online gambling contributed to crime, violence and suicide.
The government was then given a suggestion that called for immediate and thorough action to address the negative effects of online wagering on young people.
This includes setting up rehab facilities for playing addicts, stricter penalties for repeat offenders, and coordinated, proactive efforts by all industries to combat illegal gambling websites.
Surachate Phosaeng, assistant secretary-general of TYI, said that scientists found that many younger people are involved in numerous aspects of online gaming, from being participants to operating online gaming websites themselves.
During the coronavirus 2019 ( Covid-19 ) pandemic, online gambling saw a surge in activity as many people stayed home, Mr Surachate said.
Gambling website users used “influencers”, many of whom were young persons with a huge following, to encourage gambling places, he said.
” Even though several of these’ idols ‘ have been prosecuted, these]types of ] influencers are still used to promote gambling sites”, he said.
Regarding efforts to stop tens of thousands of illegal gambling sites, Mr. Surachate stated that only domains have been blocked while the principal domains remain unchanged, allowing access to these sites.
Gambling websites are simple to set up, he continued, and licenses can be obtained from nations where casinos are permitted to run major domains.
Online criminal activity is continuing to grow and become a worldwide problem, according to Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Deepor, acting chief of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau’s Division 1.
He noted that the proposed change to the cybersecurity law concentrates on crime, such as call center scams, rather than explicitly addresses online gambling.