Thai sports media brand Khob Sanam says an illegal gambling network has hijacked its name and logo to promote online betting — and it is now preparing to take the operators to court.
Key takeaways
- An illegal gambling operation has copied Khob Sanam's name, logo and branding to promote online betting.
- The Nation Group-owned outlet is preparing legal action under Thailand's Computer Crime Act.
- Khob Sanam stresses it has no involvement in, and gives no support to, online gambling of any kind.
- Readers are urged not to share personal data, transfer money or download any app claiming to be Khob Sanam.
- The company plans a complaint to the Technology Crime Suppression Division and wants the digital ministry to block copycat sites.
One of Thailand's best-known sports media names has found itself dragged into the country's online gambling underworld — not by choice, but by impersonation. Khob Sanam, a sports news and content brand owned by the Nation Group, says a criminal gambling network has been trading on its identity to lure bettors, and it is moving to stop them in court.
The warning came in an urgent statement from Khob Sanam Co Ltd, reported by The Nation on 14 June. The company said it had spotted websites and online accounts using its name, English-language variations of it and a range of borrowed brand elements, and that it considered the misuse serious enough to damage its reputation.
A trusted sports brand used as bait
According to the outlet, the network has lifted a close likeness of its name, logo, symbols, font, colours and overall commercial image to make its gambling offering look legitimate. The concern is straightforward: by borrowing the look and feel of a respected sports brand, the operators can “mislead the public without permission” and win the trust of fans who would never knowingly sign up to an unlicensed site.
It is a problem amplified by reach. Khob Sanam operates as a sports media outlet, content creator and premium sports community, and says it commands more than 14 million followers across its platforms and product lines. That audience is exactly what makes the brand such an attractive disguise for a gambling operation.
The company went further than simply denying any link. It stated that it runs no deposit or withdrawal facilities whatsoever, and that nobody has ever been given permission to put its name, logo or brand assets to work for betting purposes. Khob Sanam characterises the copycat channels as a breach of its intellectual property and a counterfeit use of its trademark, and sees them as a calculated effort to harm the reputation of a sports media business.
Who is behind the Khob Sanam name
Khob Sanam sits inside the Nation Group as a digital sports outlet, publishing football coverage, entertainment pieces and fan-community content across online channels. Its parent, Nation Group (Thailand) PCL, ranks among the largest media companies in the country. The group traces its roots to 1 July 1971, when a group of Thai journalists launched the English-language newspaper The Voice of the Nation, later renamed The Nation.
Over the following decades the business expanded into Thai-language business and mass-market newspapers, television and digital media. It is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand under the ticker NATION, stopped printing The Nation in 2019 in favour of an online-only edition, and adopted its current corporate name in 2022. That pedigree helps explain why a sports brand from the same stable carries enough credibility to be worth copying.
Legal action under the Computer Crime Act
Khob Sanam says it is preparing to pursue legal action against the network under Thailand's Computer Crime Act, the law most commonly used to tackle online impersonation, fraud and the spread of false information. The company has been unequivocal that it operates strictly within the law and has “no policy, is not involved in, and does not support online gambling in any form.”
The practical steps are already laid out. The company's lawyers have been told to gather all available digital evidence quickly so that a complaint can be lodged with the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD). Khob Sanam says it will pursue prosecution under the Computer Crime Act and any other applicable legislation as far as the law allows, and has ruled out any settlement. Alongside the legal track, it plans to work with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) so that sites posing as the brand can be blocked with minimal delay.
The statute itself dates back almost two decades. The Act on Computer Crime B.E. 2550 received royal assent on 10 June 2007 and took effect on 17 July that year. An amendment passed in December 2016 came into force in May 2017, widening the law's scope, strengthening enforcement powers and allowing the digital economy ministry to issue subordinate regulations. Rights groups have criticised the act over its use against online expression.
What Khob Sanam wants readers to know
Alongside its legal warning to the operators, the brand issued a direct appeal to its audience to stay alert. Its advice to anyone who encounters a “Khob Sanam” gambling pitch is simple:
If you see a ‘Khob Sanam’ betting offer
- Do not hand over any personal information.
- Do not transfer money to the account or platform.
- Do not download any application claiming to represent the brand.
- Do not click links from pages, accounts or channels that falsely claim to speak for the company.
The company also asked fans, the wider public and its business partners to act as an early-warning network. Anyone who comes across a suspicious website, page, advert or account is encouraged to take screenshots and send the links and evidence to the official Khob Sanam page inbox. People who have already lost money or data through such channels are advised to preserve evidence and report the matter to the authorities.
A symptom of Thailand's wider gambling problem
The case lands in the middle of an aggressive national clampdown on illegal online betting. Thai authorities have reported blocking well over 180,000 gambling-related web addresses in little more than three months, alongside a steady run of raids and arrests targeting the black market.
The numbers have kept climbing since. According to figures reported by the Bangkok Post in early June, 673,699 illegal gambling URLs and scam links were blocked between 1 October and 31 May. Court orders accounted for 635,717 of them, while platforms took down a further 37,982 voluntarily, and 78,796 addresses were blocked in May alone.
With the 2026 World Cup approaching, the government told the digital economy ministry to step up its blocking work, instructed police technology crime units to do more to keep young people away from betting platforms, and said artificial intelligence was being used to detect illegal content faster.
Brand hijacking is the natural next move for operators squeezed by that enforcement. Locked out of legitimate advertising channels, illegal sites increasingly piggyback on trusted names to reach players — which is why Khob Sanam's decision to fight back publicly, and legally, matters well beyond its own brand. For Thai sports fans, the takeaway is blunt: a familiar logo is no guarantee of a legitimate operator.
