Thai government to crack down on illegal soccer gambling!

I write that headline with a certain sense of sarcasm because there are a lot of things that are illegal in Thailand that unless someone were to tell you this you would have no idea. Marijuana, prostitution, driving over the speed-limit, not wearing a helmet on a scooter, and abortion are all "illegal" in Thailand but there is no shortage of any of those things.

Oh, and burning your crops and creating one of the most polluted areas in the world (where I live) is also illegal. It doesn't stop anyone from doing it.

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There are mini casinos all over the place in Thailand and everyone knows where they are, including and especially the police force. This idea that there is any sort of search to prevent this sort of industry is just political posturing and every now and then some politician or police captain gets to make headlines about how they spearheaded a sting operation to shut down this sort of illegal business even though they were very aware they were there all along. The fact that I know where they are says a lot, because I barely speak any of the Thai language and am certainly not connected to the criminal underworld.

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The EUFA cup is apparently really leading Thai people to gamble more than usual and I know this only from second-hand sources. I am American so of course I care about as much about the EUFA cup as I do about synchronized swimming championships (I'd be more likely to watch the second thing.)

The Thai Prime Minister has vowed to crackdown on illegal gambling and this is nothing more than just an empty promise that I can really even understand why he would state it: He has a lot on his plate seeing as how a recent survey concluded that nearly 70% of the population feels as though the Covid situation is being handled very poorly by the PM, with some going so far as to suggest that he is intentionally dragging the situation out for his own political gain in an effort to squash the growing protests against the fact that he is the PM at all.

Another thing that I found really funny about this announcement is that the PM said he was "particularly concerned about online gambling." This is a wonderful way to gain the support of the localized bookmakers because they would probably prefer that the online sites be blocked as well, thus resulting in more income for them and the police and politicians that they pay off in order to operate.

It isn't tough to find a place to place a sports bet in this country. The only thing you have to do is look for a minimart that doesn't have a great deal of products for sale but has a steady stream of people going to and from said store the day of an important game. One of these places is quite near a regular watering hole of mine and we kind of laugh about how almost no one that enters the store ever exits with any sort of merchandise and outside of sports days, the "minimart" tends to not be open at all.

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The hypocrisy of this ban on gambling is the same in Thailand as it is in countries around the world, including my own where "gambling" is illegal due to the detriments it has on society, but state-run gambling is just fine! No matter where you sit in Thailand someone is going to come by with a small box filled with lottery cards and while I have no idea how much money people spend on this, I know it is a sort of religion with some Thai people, most of which, ironically enough, happen to be very poor.

This is just another one of those things that the government is making empty promises about and nothing is going to change. If this decision on the part of the Prime Minister manages to accomplish anything, it will simply be to eliminate competition that the corrupt government and police force doesn't directly benefit from. They don't get any kickbacks from online gambling so of course they are going to go after that. I just find it frustrating that they pretend as though it is for the protection of the people when we all can see that it is their own pockets they are truly interested in protecting.

The "illegal gambling" shops are not some exclusive, difficult to find, hidden establishments with a secret password to get in the front door. Even though I don't speak Thai very well I can just walk right in there and the cards with all the upcoming games on it are simply sitting on the counter with someone behind the counter who isn't trying to disguise what sort of operation this actually is.

I think the Prime Minister should probably focus on the fact that we are close to 10 days away from the country opening back up to tourism in certain places and leave the "illegal things" that we know no one is actually going to enforce, alone for now.