Pattaya Police and Department
of Special Investigations officers raid The Members Lounge on Soi Buakaow,
arresting 22 for illegal off track betting.
Boonlua Chatree
An Australian man and 21 others were arrested when police raided a Soi
Buakaow beer bar allegedly operating a hidden off-track betting parlor for
down-under horse racing.
Pattaya Police and Department of Special Investigations officers hit The
Members Lounge on Soi Buakaow Sept. 7 where a 50-inch television was
streaming Australian horse races in a secret back room.
Bar owner Robert Steven Younger, 58, 16 alleged gamblers - 12 Aussies and
four Britons, and four Thai women serving customers in the back room -
including Younger’s 53-year-old wife Kaewjai Khosinklang - were captured in
the raid made possible through the cooperation of a foreign police informant
who allegedly placed a 2,000 baht bet on the ponies. The bar was registered
in Kaewjai’s name.
The thirty officers, who alleged Younger had registered with an
online-gambling company in Australia to take bets on horse raising, football
and rugby, seized plenty of supporting evidence, including betting forms,
race schedules and 70,000 baht cash.
The foreign customers taken into custody and charged with illegal gambling
were: Australians James Constantine, 67; Richard Edward Shutt, 55; Trevor
Maurice Schirmer, 61; Neil Douglas Hutchison, 56; Dennis Michael Smart, 64;
Grehme William Dane, 54; Douglas Patrick Philp, 62; Stephen Bruce Fishburn,
62; Larry Michael Ryan, 63; Peter James Doody, 81; Michael John Cleverly,
45; Sean Michaell O Donnell, 57; and Britons Andrew William Royle, 56; Paul
Lee Hodgin, 50; Stanley Martin Kenny, 72; and Thomas Herbert Thompson, 75.
The other Thais arrested and charged with operating a gambling establishment
were Narong Srathamanop, 48, Thanawadee Doksophon, 48, and Phen
Thong-ngamdee, 48.
