Thailand’s cabinet has approved the second draft of a law that would legalize casino gambling, with the aim of building a world-class gaming industry and expanding the country’s tourism sector.
The Entertainment Complex Bill, which was approved by cabinet yesterday, would permit casinos to be established within large-scale “integrated resorts” similar to those that have been established in Singapore.
The Cabinet approved a first draft of the bill in January before submitting it for review to the Council of States, a body that provides legal advice to the government and has previously expressed concern about the legislation.
In response to these concerns, the draft approved yesterday has imposed tighter limits on how many Thai nationals can gamble at casinos. According to Reuters, the law requires that Thais pay an entry fee of 5,000 baht ($147) to enter casinos and have at least 50 million baht ($1.4 million) in a fixed deposit account for six months. The draft also specifies that casinos can make up only 10 percent of the total space within a given entertainment complex.
Earlier this month, Thai officials said they were dropping plans to include the 50 million baht asset threshold because it would effectively bar the vast majority of Thailand’s 70 million people from gambling in casinos. However, according to the Bangkok Post, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said that the government had decided to submit the draft in its current form and deal with possible amendments later.
Under the Gambling Act of 1935, legal gambling in Thailand is currently limited to state-run horse racing and an official lottery, but successive governments have attempted to loosen these controls. This has become a major goal of the Pheu Thai-led government, which hopes that the legalization of gambling will attract billions of baht in investment and increase annual foreign tourist arrivals by 5 to 10 percent.
“The country stands to gain at least 100 billion baht per complex in investments, and Thai people will benefit from more jobs,” Julapun told reporters, Bloomberg reported. He added that the complexes will create up to 20,000 jobs, with foreign tourists expected to spend 40 percent more per trip. “The economic benefits to the country will be massive,” he said.
Under the draft legislation, Bloomberg added, the planned entertainment complexes would be operated by Thai-registered companies with a paid-up capital of at least 10 billion baht ($295 million). A 30-year license will cost 5 billion baht ($147 million) in the first year and 1 billion baht ($29 million) for each remaining year.
The bill will now be sent to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to come up for vote before the current parliamentary session ends on April 11. If passed, it will then need approval from the Senate and the King before becoming law. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters yesterday that the details of the law were not final, and that lawmakers would have the final say.
The second draft was submitted to the cabinet after the authorities held a public hearing into the draft law between February 28 and March 14, the fourth that has been held so far. Government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub told the press yesterday that 71,289 people had taken part in the public hearing, 80 percent of whom supported the bill.
However, a recent public opinion poll of 1,310 people by the National Institute of Development Administration found substantial levels of skepticism about the balance between risk and benefit.
The survey, which was conducted on March 18-20, found that 32.6 percent of respondents expressed concern that the bill “would lead to a society filled with vice and immorality, and would harm national security,” while 30.2 percent “questioned whether and how it would truly help improve the country’s economy.” A further 28.1 percent said that they were worried it would create problem gambling among the Thai population.
A similar opinion poll conducted in 2021 found that 47 percent of respondents said they opposed the legalization of gambling over concerns about crime and morality, compared to 21 percent who were supportive and 18 percent who were partially supportive.
The opposition People’s Party has also attacked the Entertainment Complex Bill, arguing that the legalization of gambling could prompt the Chinese government to discourage outbound travel by Chinese nationals to Thailand.
“We learned during the prime minister’s official visit to China last month President Xi asked her three times about the casino policy,” People’s Party MP Parit Wacharasindhu said in Parliament this week, during this week’s no-confidence debate against Prime Minister Paetongtarn. “This should raise questions about whether this policy creates risks, as it might prompt the Chinese government to adjust policy, making travel to Thailand more difficult,” he added.
The concern has also been echoed by Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, the president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.