Thai police raid Bangkok’s Makkasan area, arrest 93 Vietnamese nationals in Vietnam-focused online gambling case

Officers say the operation targeted Vietnamese customers via sports betting and online casino websites, with investigators estimating cashflow of more than THB 100 million per day (about £2.3m) and seizing large volumes of computers and phones.

Thai authorities have shut down a large suspected illegal online gambling operation in Bangkok’s Makkasan / Asoke–Rama 9 area, arresting 93 Vietnamese nationals during a raid on a property used as an operational hub. Local reporting identifies the location as a condominium/office setup in the Rama 9 zone, where police said the group worked in shifts and ran platforms aimed at the Vietnamese market.

According to investigators cited by Thai media, the network allegedly generated more than THB 100 million per day (around £2.3 million) and operated websites offering sports betting and online casino games. Police said they had monitored the site before moving in, and described the operation as organized and structured rather than an ad-hoc betting room.

Reports from Thai and Vietnamese outlets also say officers seized a significant amount of electronic equipment—including dozens of computers and hundreds of mobile phones—used to manage accounts, communicate with customers, and run the betting platforms. The scale of devices and staffing is a key detail authorities often use to argue that an operation is commercial and transnational, not merely personal gambling.

The case underlines a broader regional pattern: as enforcement pressure rises, illegal operators increasingly set up cross-border “service hubs” in major cities, while targeting customers in neighboring markets online. For Thailand, the raid also signals a focus on high-volume networks that combine sports betting with casino-style games, which tend to carry higher regulatory and consumer-harm concerns.