Bangkok: The Stop Gambling Foundation has taken a legal stance against the recent decision to legalize poker gambling as a sport. The foundation has filed a petition with the Central Administrative Court, urging the revocation of the order that lifted the ban on poker, calling on Prime Minister Nu to swiftly implement policies that align with the government’s policy statement.
According to Thai News Agency, Thanakorn Khomkrit, the Secretary-General of the Stop Gambling Foundation, alongside his legal team, has initiated a lawsuit against the Minister of the Interior and the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT). The lawsuit seeks to overturn the SAT’s resolution and order that approved poker as a sport, allowing for its gambling activities. The court’s decision to dismiss the order was described as rushed, without proper regulations in place to oversee poker tournaments. The court emphasized that the decision ignored the precautionary principle, which is crucial to preventing societal harm, particularly concerning the participation of children and youth in gambling activities. Consequently, the court has requested that the Minister of the Interior and the SAT retract the order until more stringent regulations can be established before officially recognizing poker as a sport.
Thanakorn highlighted the widespread appeal of card gambling, including games such as Pok Deng, Baccarat, Mix Ten, To Dam, and Poker, as a common gateway for many Thais into gambling. A survey conducted by the Gambling Studies Center at the Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, revealed that approximately 4.7 million Thais engaged in card gambling in 2023, with participation levels evenly split between offline and online platforms. The deregulation of poker as a legal gambling form has led to the proliferation of poker-related activities, often under the guise of tournaments or business training. Thanakorn expressed concerns that these activities might be veiled attempts to organize large-scale poker gambling, akin to opening a casino within urban areas.
Mr. Thanakorn took the opportunity to urge the government to expedite its policy implementation to prohibit all forms of gambling and refrain from endorsing entertainment complexes that incorporate gambling, including sports-related gambling like poker. He also called for immediate enforcement of laws to prevent and counteract gambling dens, online gambling, transnational crime, cyber threats, and various public frauds.