Stars summoned over online betting

The first batch of 15 internet celebrities and beauty presenters are being summoned to face charges for promoting illegal online football gambling services, police said yesterday.

They are required to report to investigators at the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) next Wednesday, said Pol Maj Gen Phanurat Lakboon, deputy chief of the MPB who was speaking in his capacity as director of the centre for the suppression of illegal football gambling.

He said earlier that around 100 celebrities and online beauty presenters were found to have promoted illegal football gambling websites. This would result in them being charged for violating Section 12 of the act on illegal gambling, which prohibits such promotional activities, he added.

Among the first online celebrities and presenters to appear before police without being summoned were Jessie

Ward and Saithan “Nong Noei” Wangprasert, said an informed source.

Pol Lt Gen Chanthep Sesavej, commissioner of the MPB, said that if illegal sports gambling is found in any area by officers from another precinct, but not detected by police in whose jurisdiction it falls, then the five most senior officials from the latter will be immediately transferred pending a probe.

The MPB has set up five teams tasked with leading efforts to suppress online football gambling and they have already shut down five major websites, said Pol Maj Gen Phanurat.

Over 1,000 gamblers were found to have registered with those sites to bet on 2018 World Cup matches, police said, adding 22 million baht has been seized from their bank accounts and they will face legal punishment.

Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Srivorakhan said any entertainment venues found supporting illegal gambling activities could be closed for five years.