Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

Police are gearing up for a much-anticipated comeback of underground lottery betting after the government suspended two draws of the two-digit and three-digit lottery. Pol Lt-Gen Chongrak Chutanont, national assistant police chief, said police have been told to strictly enforce the anti-gambling law especially during the suspension. An extended investigation is also required in cases where the value of seized wagers exceeds 200,000 baht, he said. Police would face tough disciplinary action if found to be involved in illegal betting, or turning a blind eye. The digit lottery, suspended pending a legal amendment by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), would resume on Dec 30. Housing changes urged URBAN POOR :A panel on housing rights under the National Human Rights Commission yesterday proposed amendments to two laws in a bid to better tackle housing problems for the urban poor. Panel head Aporn Wongsang told a forum on housing problems that the law authorising forced evictions and the Building Control Code pose obstacles. The forced evictions law allowed the state and private property owners to relocate buildings and materials from their property at will. Nationality questions PEOPLE'S ASSEMBLY :Fifty-six people nominated to sit on the 2,000-member National People's Assembly have nationality problems, according to a panel examining the qualifications. Amara Pongsapit, head of the panel, said the individuals need to submit documents to prove that they hold Thai citizenship as their parents are immigrants. She said the required documents are papers stating that they were born on Thai soil and their parents are legal immigrants. The deadline is Tuesday. Lecturer jailed SHOOTING :A Chulalongkorn University lecturer was sentenced to 13 years and six days in prison for the murder of a vendor who urinated in public. The Criminal Court found Santilak Thanyaharn, of the engineering faculty, guilty of premeditated murder of Suthan Itthisurasing, 45, who was shot in the chest.

On March 30, 2005, Suthan dropped by at a birthday party of a niece who lived next to the defendant's Mister Stamp Building in Bang Sue district.

He was emptying his bladder in front of the building when the defendant fired two warning shots, the court was told. A heated row followed and friends of the victim intervened. Santilak fired a shot at Suthan and killed him.

Fishermen get life

TOURIST MURDER :The Court of Appeals has commuted a death sentence to life imprisonment on two members of a fishing crew convicted of murdering Welsh student Katherine Horton who was on holiday on the tourist island of Samui, said their lawyer Prompatchara Namuang,

Mr Prompatchara said the court granted leniency to the defendants, Bualoi Phothisit and Wichai Somkhaoyai, after they confessed. The pair attacked the victim who was holidaying on Samui island early this year. She was knocked unconscious, raped, thrown into the sea and left to drown.

No DNA match

JUSTICE :None of the three human bones recovered from a dump site in Ratchaburi matched the DNA of missing lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, said Central Institute of Forensic Science acting director Porntip Rojanasunan.