Around 8 p.m. on the 18th, Thai authorities raided two underground casinos in Chiang Mai’s Mueang district in a simultaneous strike. Cops quickly secured both sites, rounding up over 100 gamblers—a mix of Thais and foreigners—all ordered to crouch together on the floor. Inside, officers seized Hi-Lo tables, baccarat setups, and fish-shooting arcade machines, along with over 2 million baht in cash and casino chips.
One den was operating out of a small building in the Santitham neighborhood, while the second was hidden deep in an alley in Hai Ya. Local media reported that both venues ran heavy security: every patron was searched at the door and forced to hand over their mobile phone before entering. Besides the players, authorities also nabbed several venue staff, including security guards, accountants, and odd-job workers, some of whom were migrant laborers.
Santitham is usually a bustling grid of dense rentals and street food stalls, thick with the late-night smell of grilled meat and motorbike exhaust. Nobody expected a full-scale casino to be tucked inside an ordinary building. Officials said all suspects and evidence have been turned over to police, with investigations ongoing to trace the real operators and the money flow. Off-shift workers heading home stopped in their tracks as officers streamed in and out, only then realizing what had been operating right under their noses.
