Thailand Blocks 945,075 Online Gambling URLs as Digital Crackdown Expands

Thailand blocked 945,075 URLs and online items linked to gambling during fiscal 2026, as authorities expand the use of artificial intelligence, police data and cooperation with major digital platforms to reduce access to illegal gambling content.

Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) has reported that 945,075 URLs and pieces of online content associated with online gambling were blocked during fiscal year 2026, covering the period from October 2025 through September 2026.

Court orders accounted for the majority of enforcement. Authorities obtained orders covering 835,207 gambling-related URLs, of which 749,546 were identified through the ministry’s proactive monitoring and another 85,661 originated from information supplied by the Royal Thai Police. A further 109,868 items were blocked through direct cooperation with digital platforms.

The figures refer to individual URLs and online content rather than 945,075 separate gambling websites or operators, an important distinction given that a single gambling operation may use numerous pages, domains or mirror links. The latest total nevertheless illustrates the scale of Thailand’s effort to restrict access to unauthorized gambling services.

MDES is increasingly using artificial intelligence to identify gambling websites, combining automated monitoring with information from police and reports from the public. The ministry said public tip-offs will be incorporated into a broader surveillance system designed to accelerate the detection of illegal content.

Authorities have also outlined a four-part strategy for the next phase of enforcement. It includes creating new channels for citizens and young people to report gambling activity, establishing a working group to analyse reports, increasing cooperation with platforms including TikTok and Meta, and working with search engines to reduce the visibility of gambling-related content in search results. Government agencies responsible for education, internal affairs and security will also participate in prevention initiatives aimed particularly at younger users.

Thailand’s approach is therefore moving beyond conventional website blocking toward a broader digital enforcement model involving courts, technology platforms, search engines, police intelligence and AI-based detection. For gambling businesses targeting the Thai market without authorization, the growing coordination between government agencies and online platforms significantly raises the risk that domains, mirror links and promotional content will be identified and restricted more quickly.