Thailand is a rarity: a major Asian nation without a casino. For some time, authorities in Thailand have considered changing that.
Asian nations that don’t have casinos, including Indonesia and Brunei, have Muslim majorities, who strongly discourage gambling for religious reasons. Thailand, although Buddhist, has a strong tradition of gambling, but it is largely illegal.
It is estimated that in illegal sports betting alone the country spends $5 billion annually. Moreover there are many underground casinos in large cities. They largely escape taxation.
In December, the Thai parliament created a committee to study a proposal to authorize an integrated casino resort as a way to attract tourism and spur growth in the local economy.
The committee has 60 members, including 15 cabinet members and representatives of all political parties. It is charged with looking at what laws would be required to make such a resort happen, as the possible social and economic impact. It is expected to issue a report soon.
Thai media reports that Covid-19 concerns are at least in part a motivation. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha worries that underground casinos are spreading the virus since they have little or no health protocols in place. Other officials point out that Thai residents regularly visit casinos in other countries.
The prime minister led a crackdown on illegal casinos in 2014 when he took power, eliminating 80 percent of them. But several years later the government determined that hundreds still operate.
Law dating back to 1935 allows wagering on horse racing, cockfighting, combat sports and the lottery. Amending that law would be the simplest way to make way for a casino, officials have concluded.
Several prime ministers over the decades have started to move in that direction, but Thailand is known for frequent turnovers of the government through coups—and so those attempts were never concluded.
However, Thailand is also a monarchy, where the King is highly respected, even if he has little real authority. Former king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years until 2016, was vehemently opposed to gambling. His son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, is open to bringing integrated resorts to Thailand.
A consulting firm hired before the pandemic hit recommended two or three casinos, including one large integrated resort in Bangkok, the capital, and two satellite casino. It assumed an investment of as much as $4 billion for the Bangkok IR and less for the satellites and concluded that revenues of up to $4.7 billion were possible. This is comparable to Singapore, which has two very successful integrated resorts.
Some critics of the scheme, however, point out that Thailand is already a big tourist draw. Without a clear plan for what the casinos hope to achieve, revenue estimates are risky.
For one thing, they say, the decision must be made whether the casinos’ main purpose is to draw locals, or tourists. If locals are the target, an IR might not be the best approach.
One source who spoke to Inside Asian Gaming said, “The market could be quite big. Thailand had 13 million Chinese visitors in 2019 and that was on an upward trajectory. Chinese people love coming to Thailand, so that’s huge. You’ve also got a lot of Thai people who go to Singapore, Macau, Europe, America and Australia to gamble. So there is a market there for sure, supplemented by a huge Chinese market.”
Another source observed, “Thailand is a very ‘top down’ country, so if the King says ‘This is going to happen and everyone must fall in line,’ then it can happen, although clearly there would be a lot of people opposed to having a legal casino.”
Because of Covid’s effects on tourism, the Thai government is very deeply in debt. It needs a new source of cash. And despite Thailand remaining a popular tourist destination, the amounts they spend compared to other countries has been declining.
Whether that will be enough to galvanize an effort to welcome casinos remains to be seen.
