Legalise casinos to tackle underground gambling: Thai PM

Jun 24, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Thailand’s prime minister Srettha Thavisin (pictured in a file photo) has said that legalising casino gambling in the country would be a way to curb the number of illegal dens in the nation. He was speaking on Saturday in his first monthly television address as the country’s leader.

The official said legal casinos would bring gambling businesses under the government’s control. “We have to admit that underground gambling is a serious problem and should be solved by legalising,” Mr Srettha said in his address, according to local media reports.

The House of Representatives in March backed a study by a panel of lawmakers that favoured the setting up of legalised casinos within large entertainment venues to attract tourists.

Thailand’s Ministry of Finance is leading 16 other government agencies in the study on the feasibility of legalising casino resorts in that nation.

The nation’s deputy finance minister Julapun Amornvivat said last week that a report regarding a proposal to legalise casino business in the country would be ready for deliberation by the cabinet in three or four weeks.

Each casino resort would require at least THB100 billion (US$2.75 billion) in investment, as suggested in the House committee report.

A March report from Maybank Investment Bank Bhd stated that licences would in likelihood “be awarded in phases,” with the possibility of the first casino resort in Thailand opening “in 2029”.

Speaking at the conference segment of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2024 in Macau earlier this month, some casino industry observers cautioned that the casino opportunity in Thailand was constrained by certain risks, particularly whether there would be a sound regulatory and institutional framework able to attract international investors.

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