Thai National Assembly sets new group to mull legal casinos

Oct 30, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Rest of Asia, Top of the deck  

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Thailand’s House of Representatives – the lower chamber in the National Assembly (pictured in a file photo) – voted on Thursday to set up a 60-member committee to look into the possibility of legalising casino complexes in Thailand, reported local media outlets.

The committee has 90 days to complete its task, reported the Bangkok Post newspaper.

The House of Representatives had in December 2021 established a similar group to study the possibility of Thailand legalising different forms of gambling, including casinos.

The group – named “Ad-hoc Committee on the Consideration of the Opening of Entertainment Complex, the Collection of Revenue and Taxes from the Legal Casino, the Prevention and the Solution of Illegal Gambling, the Widespread of Electric Gambling Machines, and the Online Gambling” – submitted in July 2022 a report to the National Assembly, exploring the introduction of casino resorts in Thailand.

It recommended the government allowing “entertainment complexes” – that include legal casinos – to be set up at a number of areas across the country.

Thailand held a national election on May 14, with a new House of Representatives voted in. The country’s new government officially took office in September, almost four months after the country’s general election, due to lengthy negotiation over the formation of a coalition.

Legalising casino gambling has been a subject of controversy in the Buddhist kingdom in recent years. Several of the Southeast Asia nations neighbouring Thailand – namely Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia – have legal gambling venues.

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