Claw machines, the popular arcade game where players use a joystick to try and grab prizes with a metal arm, are finally being seized by authorities in Thailand.
Police are able to confiscate the claw machines under the country’s Gambling Act and a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that classified any game where a person wins or loses possessions as gambling.
Despite the law and ruling though, enforcement against arcades and other establishments that have claw machines was non-existent.
That was until a machine was seized in a raid in Udon Thani last month after a public complaint.
Now, head of legal affairs at the Department of Provincial Administration Visitpat Anantarasuchart has stated that they will begin cracking down on claw machines because they are “luring youths”.
In order to operate any “gambling machines”, a license must first be secured.
But Thai attorneys specializing in criminal law state that no such license has ever been issued in Thailand.
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