Seventeen government agencies are now reviewing a report on the potential of casinos to boost the tourism economy in Thailand.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, the Thai Finance Ministry will preside over the review in collaboration with 16 other agencies, which have until mid-May to present their recommendations to the cabinet.
Participants include the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Culture along with the Office of the Council of State, the National Economic and Social Development Council, the National Office of Buddhism and the Royal Thai Police, among others.
Proposed integrated resorts (IRs) in the country would include hotels, retail, restaurants, concert venues and theme parks as well as casinos. Developers would be required to pledge a minimum of THB100 billion (US$2.73 billion) to bid on the 20-year licenses, which would be renewable every five years.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat, head of the House committee that already studied and approved IRs, estimates that the resort complexes could generate up to THB50 billion (US$1.4 billion) in annual revenue, boost tourism by approximately $12 billion and increase average tourist spend by 52 percent, to $ 1,790 per trip. The study also found that a legal gaming industry could grow the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 1.16 percentage points.
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, the cabinet recommends joint investments of government and private operators and a concession model similar to the framework in Macau. It also suggested locating IRs near international airports.
In other details, Thailand’s proposed gaming tax rate of 17 percent would be the second-lowest in the ASEAN region after Cambodia. Gross gaming revenue would be taxed at 20 percent to 30 percent, and locals would be required to pay an entry levy at an amount yet to be determined.
In addition to the capital city of Bangkok, possible IR locations include the Eastern Economic Corridor, encompassing Rayong, Chonburi and Chachoengsao; southern Thailand, including Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi; northern Thailand, including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Lampang; and the northeast, home of Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is all-in on IRs. In a March 29 post on the social media platform X, he wrote, “We do not want to promote gambling, but would rather supervise it and use the investment to create jobs. We can regulate the grey economy and collect taxes.”
According to the South China Morning Post, Thai casinos would likely siphon at least some business from Malaysian and Cambodian casinos.
Potential bidders are said to include the Las Vegas Sands Corp., operator of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands and a number of casino resorts in Macau; MGM Resorts International, which is building the first IR in Japan and is also one of Macau’s Big 6 concessionaires; and Asia’s leading gaming operator, Malaysia-based Genting, which has dozens of casinos in the U.K., also operates in the U.S. and the Philippines, and owns Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.
