Lynnae is a journalist covering the intersection of technology, culture, and gambling. She has more than five years of experience as a writer and editor, with bylines at SlashGear and MakeUseOf. On the iGaming side,...
Read Full BioBeauty, elegance, and glamour are just a few of the words that are commonly used to describe beauty pageants. However, those aren’t the words most observers would choose when looking back at this year’s edition of Miss Universe.
That’s because what unfolded wasn’t just a contest about poise and crowns. Instead, it became a collision between gambling ads, criminal investigations, and corporate drama, making descriptors like messy, controversial, and high-risk more fitting for what has unfolded during the pageant, with even more coming to light after the curtains closed.
In Thailand, police opened a criminal investigation during the competition over alleged unauthorized online-casino promotion after officers raided pageant staff in Bangkok and seized promotional materials connected to PlayTime, an online casino brand operating illegally in the country, where most forms of gambling, except horse racing and the state lottery, are prohibited under Thai law. And since then, scrutiny has only intensified.
Pageant Ends & Investigations Become Public
Just days after the Miss Universe pageant ended, the Attorney General’s Office announced it had issued arrest warrants in a wide-ranging investigation into the alleged trafficking of drugs, weapons, and stolen fuel.
While an announcement like this wouldn’t typically make international headlines, this time it did for a very specific reason: Raúl Rocha Cantú, the president and co-owner of Miss Universe. Rocha is a businessman who purchased a 50% stake in the pageant in 2024.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the probe (opened in 2024) targets a criminal network accused of smuggling arms, narcotics, and fuel from Guatemala into Mexico. The warrant is part of a 13-person investigation.
El País reports that Rocha’s holdings extend far beyond pageants: his corporate empire includes interests in hydrocarbons, real estate, and casinos. Investigators say the trafficking ring he’s allegedly involved in has ties to powerful organized crime organizations.
As if that weren’t enough, in a separate case, a Thai court issued an arrest warrant for the pageant’s other co-owner, Anne Jakapong Jakrajutatip, for failing to appear in court for a scheduled hearing in a 2023 fraud case.
The timing of these allegations couldn’t be more explosive. As the legal storm brews in Mexico, Jakrajutatip’s case is making news, raising serious questions about just who’s running the show and the integrity of the pageant’s leadership. All of this is happening as the Miss Universe pageant remains mired in its own scandal following the raid by Thai law enforcement for allegedly promoting online casinos.
Thai authorities say they found branded promotional materials, including pillows with the PlayTime logo and footage filmed for a betting site, all of which were confiscated, along with pageant organizers being questioned.
Shortly after the allegations surfaced, the local host committee for the pageant issued a public statement distancing itself from the promotion, saying “…it has come to our attention that the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has promoted one of its sponsors associated with online casinos, an activity that is strictly illegal under Thai law.
“As the official host of the 74th Miss Universe Thailand, Miss Grand International Company Limited hereby clarifies that the company has no involvement whatsoever with such activities or any form of publicity related to online casinos.”
With investigations now unfolding in Thailand and Mexico, the drama around Miss Universe is no longer confined to the pageant’s stage; the people behind the crown have come under intense scrutiny on two continents.
Casino Tycoon Behind the Crown
Years before acquiring a 50% stake in Miss Universe, Rocha made a name for himself in Mexico by building a business empire that spanned fuel distribution, real estate, and casinos. However, there’s one establishment that stands out in his past: Casino Royale in Monterrey, which was the site of a gruesome arson attack that killed 52 people in 2011.
The arsonists were members of the Los Zetas cartel, and they made it nearly impossible for those trapped by the flames to escape. The attack remains one of the deadliest on a casino in Mexican history. At the time, survivors of the massacre and the families of the dead called for an investigation into the casino and Rocha. But by the time Rocha was summoned to appear in court, he had left the country and moved to the United States.
Even after settling in the U.S., he didn’t give up the gambling business. He continued to oversee his casinos from afar, which allowed him to live a luxurious lifestyle, including the purchase of a $12 million home.
Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office issuing a warrant for Rocha’s arrest in the November trafficking case has renewed scrutiny of his past and present gambling activities. All of this might serve as a cautionary tale if the 2025 edition of the Miss Universe pageant hadn’t been hit by allegations of illegal online-casino promotion, with PlayTime serving as an official sponsor.
According to Thai media reports, host-committee president Nawat Itsaragrisil went so far as to report Rocha to the police, saying that he’d “firmly rejected” PlayTime’s involvement in the pageant and alleging that Rocha had orchestrated the casino promotion, directing contestants to participate in it despite being warned not to.
While no evidence has come to light (at least not publicly) that directly links either co-owner, Rocha or Jakrajutatip, to the pageant’s Thai gambling-ad controversy, the overlap: a pageant, a casino operator with a checkered history, and criminal allegations in different jurisdictions point to a pattern of bad judgment and raise serious questions about the oversight and decision-making at the top of Miss Universe’s leadership.
As investigations unfold across two continents, the pageant’s biggest challenge may not be legal, but commercial: whether the Miss Universe brand can rebuild enough trust to convince major sponsors and broadcast partners to continue standing behind a crown now visibly tarnished by scandal.
