Every since Black Friday occurred, poker players in the United States have been looking for safer havens. A lot of them have moved to places such as South America and South East Asia where it is legal. A number of these players select Thailand as their choice of destination.
This is because the economy of Thailand is mostly fueled by tourism, it is easy to get a long term visa, the cost of living is extremely reasonable and foreigners do not get bothered by local police, unless they are peddling drugs.
However, for the record, Thailand considers any form of gambling to be illegal but usually the authorities turn a blind eye to these activities. This is mostly because Thai’s don’t engage in online gambling or live poker events. Expats however safely use the internet to play online poker and even organize a game or two at a safe location or hotel room.
Thai authorities recently confirmed that they raided an illegal live poker game that was taking place on Sunday morning. The police stormed the place and found nine foreign nationals who come from Europe and the United States playing poker. Along with them there were two Cambodian casino workers who were playing the role of a host and dealer for the poker game.
Thai newspapers report that the live game was being run by Matthew Greynom, a 35 year-old US citizen. The police also seized various currencies that would be around $5700 USD along with a laptop, casino chips, and an accounting book which had figures of transactions that took place between March and July 2013.
Some of the expats arrested along with Greynom, include Brian Thomas, Craig Daniel and Mark Neddleman who also come from the United States, Frank De Busscher from Belgium, Martin Picheslberger from Australia and Monica Lee from Canada. All those arrested have been charged with violating Thailand’s anti gambling legislature and await court appearances.
Thailand is generally known to turn a blind eye to such activities as it likes to encourage tourism. This sudden crackdown could scare other tourists who play online poker from home or indulge in live poker games across Thailand.
Those expats who live in Thailand and love online gambling will now be a lot more careful with the information they disclose, their online activities as well as engaging with the locals as there is no fun being locked up in a Thai jail.
