A second study on legal casino resorts in Thailand is expected to go to the country’s House of Representatives next week. According to the Bangkok Post, if the study meets with approval by the full House, it will be sent to the cabinet for review.
“If this is realized, it could generate huge revenue for the country,” said Sorawong Thienthong, secretary general of the Pheu Thai Party and vice chairman of a 60-member House committee that compiled the report. “What we emphasize is entertainment complexes. Casinos would be a small part of such complexes.”
According to Inside Asian Gaming, a previous report released in 2022 recommended the development of casino resorts in up to five locations around the country, with Bangkok and Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor the most viable locations.
It called for gaming floors to cover no more than 5 percent of total resort space, with the remainder devoted to non-gaming attractions such as five-star hotels, shopping malls, spas, amusement parks, zoos and indoor and outdoor sports stadiums — the so-called Singapore model.
Lawmakers “know the public might reject (casinos), so that’s why they’re talking about entertainment complexes like in Singapore,” said Nualnoi Treerat, director of the Center for Gambling Studies at Chulalongkorn University, in recent comments to Channel News Asia. Singapore is home of two multibillion-dollar IRs, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.
Casino guests would have to be 21 years of age or older to gamble, and Thai locals would have to demonstrate financial assets of at least THB500,000 (US$15,000) for the most recent six months.
IRs with legal gaming are seen as one way to fight Thailand’s illegal casino industry; punters must now cross the borders to gamble legally. Cambodia’s casino industry, for example, relies heavily on Thai patrons.
