Thailand has been stepping up its efforts to shut down illegal online gambling in advance of FIFA World Cup 2026 by blocking nearly 700,000 gambling-related URLs and online sites over the last eight months.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) has reported that authorities have blocked 673,699 gambling-related links between October 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, 635,717 of which were removed based on court orders and another 37,982 taken down via collaborative strategies with digital platforms.
The intensity of enforcement escalated in May, when authorities blocked 78,796 gambling-related links, including 68,571 through court orders and 10,225 through cooperation from digital platforms.
According to Deputy Government Spokeswoman Ploythalay Laksameesaengjan, the government has significantly increased their monitoring and blocking of websites as part of their concern that the World Cup will create an increase in online betting activity.
Additionally, DES says that their expanded campaign is directed toward gambling websites, URLs, and social networking accounts associated with illegal betting operations as the authorities anticipate an increase in betting during the World Cup.
In a separate report from Thai police, they have stated that they have blocked more than 717,000 gambling-related URLs between October 2025 and May 20, 2026, as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal online gambling.
Officials of the agencies involved in the crackdown have stated that the gambling associated with football is of particular concern as it has been the case in the past that betting activity increases during periods of major international sporting events.
Authorities are concerned that illegal operators may utilize the high level of popularity of the World Cup to recruit new customers, thereby greatly increasing their illegal betting activities on digital platforms.
