Thai Gaming Sites Ordered Shut Down After Suicide 82
eldavojohn writes "Seventy-two websites have been ordered shut down by the courts in Thailand following the suicide of a 12-year-old boy who jumped from the sixth story of his school after his father banned him from playing computer games. This brings more action from the court: 'Some websites are rumored to take in over 100 million baht from online betting a night at peak periods, causing huge economic losses to the country. To prevent online gambling, the DSI, also a member of the internet safety committee, would notify all Internet service providers across the country about the court order. From now on, any provider found to encourage or provide online gambling will not only face a jail term and a fine, but also have his/her ISP license revoked by the ICT.' Thailand is no stranger to internet censorship of various sites."
Why.... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wolfram Alpha is good for something... (Score:5, Interesting)
100 million Thai baht = 2.9121 million U.S. dollars, annualized == $1.058 billion (granted that's a peak period, so it's probably half that)
Thailand's Population == 63.9 million
Thailand's GDP / Thailand's population == $3718
Thailand's game website expenditure (peak night) / population == about $22 or 215% of annualised GDP per capita!
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The only way to prevent these tragedies... (Score:2, Interesting)
Just what do you think you are doing? (Score:3, Interesting)
You are using fact and reason to point out the sky isn't falling down. Do you know the harm this is doing to slashdot's advertising revenue? They NEED stories like this and wild random speculation on it to draw visitors. You sir are stealing the food out of the mouth of poor slashdot editors who hardly could get any other job with their skills. I hope you are proud of yourself.