Every now and then you see foreigners and Thai people having fun trying to fish little stuffed animals out of the so-called “Holy Cranes”, until a few days ago the police in Pattaya asserted the authority and these illegal activities were immediately suppressed.
The Thai people are allowed to buy tickets in the Thai state lottery, but throwing a few baht into a slot machine to win a stuffed animal is considered heavily illegal gambling in Thailand.
The rules may not make sense, but Pattaya police said they still had to enforce them when they seized three of these “crane machines” at Tree Town Market in Soi Buakhao last weekend.
Thais and foreigners alike tried their luck with the machines outside the toilets. Users have to control a crane trade and pick up the toy with the metal claw and then drop it into the exit chute.
A Cambodian man named Kwang was in charge of the machines and has been arrested on charges of operating gambling machines. Meanwhile, street vendors continued to sell state lottery tickets unhindered.
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