Money laundering fears hang over Thailand’s online gambling plans 

BANGKOK  — 

Thailand’s plans to legalize online gambling are raising fears that transgression gangs volition usage the manufacture to determination and launder their illicit proceeds arsenic they person done with gambling operators successful neighboring countries.

Prasert Jantararuangtong, Thailand’s curate of integer system and society, said past week that a measure could beryllium acceptable wrong a month. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, wide seen arsenic a large unit down the existent government, led by his girl Paetongtarn Shinawatra, avidly endorsed the thought arsenic good past week.

The averred impetus for the propulsion has been some economical and legal.

Thaksin claimed a regulated online gambling manufacture could nett the authorities astir $3 cardinal successful yearly revenue. By bringing an manufacture already operating successful the shadows into the light, Prasert said the determination could besides thrust retired the criminals presently down galore of the betting sites.

"The extremity is to modulate underground gambling operations, bringing them into the ineligible model and ensuring due taxation," Prasert told reporters.

The propulsion for online gambling is moving up arsenic the authorities is preparing to legalize carnal casinos wrong integrated resorts featuring hotels, buying malls and different entertainment. A related measure is owed for statement successful the National Assembly soon, aft winning support from the premier minister’s Cabinet connected Monday.

Gambling successful Thailand is presently restricted to betting connected state-run equine races and an authoritative lottery.

Many person been informing that expanding the scope of ineligible gambling successful Thailand, particularly online, is rife with risk.

Bringing underground gambling operations nether authorities regularisation tin bash immoderate good, Benedikt Hofmann, lawman typical for Southeast Asia and the Pacific for the United Nations Office connected Drugs and Crime, told VOA.

“But it besides opens the doorway for ostensibly morganatic investments and usage of the strategy by transgression actors for their illicit purposes, particularly successful a portion rife with specified actors. As we person seen successful the Philippines, creating ineligible licensing and regulatory frameworks for gambling operators, similar the POGO scheme, did not forestall the strategy from being taken implicit by highly problematic actors,” helium said.

The Philippines launched POGO, the Philippines Offshore Gaming Operator, successful 2016 to licence online gambling operators, but unopen down the programme past year. In a authorities of the federation code successful July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the manufacture had morphed into a hotbed of cyberscamming, wealth laundering and quality trafficking.

Hofmann said online gambling sites often outpouring up from carnal casinos and tin turbocharge their transgression activities.

“Taking vantage of the online space, these operations relation astir the timepiece and are theoretically accessible from anyplace successful the world, truthful the scope and measurement of some licit and illicit funds processed are overmuch larger. They besides connection easier ways to integrate crypto transactions and trim lawsuit touchpoints, making them highly charismatic for wealth laundering,” helium said.

In a 2023 report, the UNODC said Southeast Asia’s transnational transgression syndicates had efficaciously turned the region’s casinos and online betting sites into their ain shadiness banking network, utilizing them to determination and launder tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars a twelvemonth successful net from amerciable gambling, cause trafficking, cyberscams and different organized crime.

Besides the Philippines, galore of those casinos and betting sites run conscionable crossed the borderline from Thailand successful Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Amanda Gore, manager of the Center for Global Advancement and a forensic accountant who has investigated fiscal transgression astir the world, said Thailand’s vicinity puts the state astatine precocious hazard of having its ain online gambling manufacture exploited.

“Because they’ve got the aforesaid benignant of geographical issues … the cause trafficking, the organized crime; it’s each successful that area. So, they’re going to person to beryllium highly strict, and if they’re not past it’s astir apt going to extremity up going the aforesaid mode arsenic the Philippines,” she told VOA.

Gore said the operators down these online gambling sites often determination from jurisdiction to jurisdiction successful hunt of the astir permissive conditions, and warned that immoderate of those precocious unopen retired of the Philippines could look to Thailand adjacent unless it passes beardown laws and backs them up with strict enforcement.

“The cardinal is going to beryllium whether they person a beardown enforcement beingness down those regulations and laws arsenic well, due to the fact that if they don’t, I deliberation it’s going to beryllium very, precise susceptible to the transgression groups successful the region, peculiarly from the wealth laundering perspective,” she said.

Government officials person said they are alert of the risks and insisted they would lone rotation retired the casinos and online gambling licenses with the indispensable guardrails, but they person yet to supply immoderate details.

Spokespersons for the premier minister’s bureau and the ministries of interior and integer system and nine did not reply to VOA’s requests for elaboration.

Rangsiman Rome, an absorption lawmaker successful Thailand’s House of Representatives who chairs the committee connected nationalist security, told VOA that helium supports the legalization of casinos and a constricted online gambling manufacture successful rule but believes the authorities is not yet up to the task of managing either safely.

“The existent law, including instrumentality enforcement, is not capable to support Thai nine from the grey capital, the mafia oregon … wealth laundering,” helium said. “Because present the wealth laundering already happens, it happens each day, and it looks similar the Thai authorities don’t cognize however to halt this.”

Rangsiman said the authorities should springiness itself, lawmakers and the nationalist much clip to survey and statement the pros and cons earlier pressing ahead, and that it should absorption connected rooting retired the corruption successful the agencies that would beryllium tasked with enforcing immoderate caller laws connected casinos and gambling first.

Thailand has arrested dozens of constabulary officers for moving oregon protecting underground gambling operations successful caller years.

“We spot a batch of corruption that happens successful Thailand, truthful we person to hole this earlier we let the casinos,” Rangsiman said.

Gore suggested Thailand survey well-established gambling commissions specified arsenic the United Kingdom’s, which she said could connection utile lessons connected however to authorisation operators that neglect to travel the rules.

The UNODC’s Hofmann said Thailand should besides absorption connected making definite its regulators cautiously vet casino investors and players, and see foregoing online gambling and cryptocurrency payments altogether.

“Even then, risks volition remain,” helium said, “as we person seen with organized transgression infiltrating casino sectors astir the world.”