More forms of gambling should be legalised, for example on football, to raise tax revenue for use in helping people in need, according to Deputy Prime Minister Somsak Thepsutin.

Mr Somsak, who supervises the Justice Ministry, said at Government House on Tuesday that legalising gambling was a different way of looking at the issue after the arrests of online gambling suspects and  searches of premises on Monday.

Cyber crime police raided several  premises in Bangkok on Monday, including the houses of deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, as part of a crackdown on a large online gambling network.

“Gambling on fighting cocks and bulls is legal but other kinds of gambling, such as on football, are not,” Mr Somsak said. “The state and the people do not benefit from taxation. If these were taxed like other gambling activities the Interior Ministry has licensed, it would be good.” 

He had ordered relevant officials to review the possibility and the matter would be proposed to the cabinet  later.

“It would be beneficial because online gambling involves huge amounts of money. If it were spent to help people with disabilities, elderly people and underprivileged children, it would go to good use,” the deputy prime minister said.

Digital Economy and Society MInister Prasert Chantararuangthong said his ministry had already closed about 4,400 gambling websites this year and police took legal action in about 6,000 online gambling cases.