If they were able to catch a high numbers like this at the same time, then I guess that someone sold them out to the government or they belowed it up themselves and were already on the investigation list of the government. They must have broken the law which was never good but I still feel sorry for them that they might serve 9 years in prison.
According to the article, they followed public tips which led them to the suspected organised gambling activities, so yeah, the public sold them out to the government. I guess they never thought that people would tell about them or that they would actually get caught.
It could be that the tribute paid by this group of sites pays little so that unscrupulous officials leak this to the government, because until now the bookies have never been arrested except for the workers who are in front of the computer operating the site.
Dennis Lim is a former bookie for more than 3 years who is on the border of Thailand and Cambodia has described everything in this news Podscast, so the conclusion is that this gambling will never disappear, if this is arrested there will be more.
There is also government involvement in controlling it, even in the past there was an uproar over the gambling consortium, after that it was quiet again.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5oyCtoVVU&t=1421s