Thai police have found over 500 million baht (15.2 million U.S. dollars) were placed on football gambling in Thailand on the Euro 2008 football tournament which just ended, media here reported.
After arresting 1,098 gamblers and bookmakers, police have by far located only 931,496 baht (28,227 dollars) in cash, according to The Nation news website.
"Gamblers can now put their bets online," Royal Thai Police deputy spokesman Major General Ruangsak Jaritek was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
Euro 2008, which lasted nearly one month, ended on Monday. The number of arrests made during the tournament in Thailand was higher than any other football competition, thanks to tipsoffs from people, according to Ruangsak.
Ruangsak called on indebted football gamblers to come forward if they received threats from gambling operators.
"Football gambling is not a serious offence. It's better than facing a threat to your lives."
They cited a case that some gambling operators showed up at a Bangkok school to demand money from a schoolboy. "They threatened to assault the boy if he failed to pay the gambling debts," Ruangsak said.
He urged schools to alert police when they see any suspicious strangers ask for meeting students.
Some children have reportedly run up nearly 100,000 baht (3030.3 dollars) in gambling debts.
An earlier poll showed that more and more Thai youths, from primary school pupils to university students, have been or tend to be engaged in football gambling, especially during the World Cup and European Championship tournaments. Thai authorities had vowed to step up efforts in crackdown on such illegal activities before the Euro 2008 started, and urged the public for cooperation.
Source: Xinhua
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