Thailand MP Korrawee Prissanantakul says the government should run its own casinos to reap the benefits. But finance minister Julapun Amornvivat says lawmakers should leave it to the experts.
Thailand’s deputy finance minister is urging his colleagues in government to complete a plan that would legalize casino resorts, also known as entertainment complexes, in the kingdom.
Julapun Amornvivat has called on the ministry’s customs, revenues and excise departments to formalize a tax-collection process for the proposed industry. And he’s not wasting time. According to the Bangkok Post, Julapan wants a pitch in hand by mid-October.
Joining a global industry
Gambling is currently outlawed in Thailand, with the exception of a national lottery and wagers on state-run horseraces. The country first began to actively pursue gaming complexes in 2023, under former prime minister Srettha Thavisin. His successor, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, has indicated she will advance the plan.
As in Japan, which is now developing its first casino in Osaka, the goal is to increase tourism and investment and create new jobs. Lawmakers also want to take back revenues that now go to casinos in border countries like Myanmar and Laos, and curb the illegal grey market.
On 28 March, a draft casino bill was approved by 253 of 257 members of the Thai House of Representatives. A study projected that legal casinos will boost annual tourism revenue by 394.7bn baht (£9bn/€10.9bn/$12bn). It would increase per-trip spend by 52%, to 65K baht, for an additional 448.8bn baht.
In a best-case scenario, the move would make Thailand part of a global industry and lift Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy.
Thailand invites the big players
Amornvivat seemed to overrule a suggestion by MP Korrawee Prissananantakul, who believes the government should bypass global gaming operators and run its own casinos.
“[Then] all Thais would benefit from this policy, not only certain investors,” Prissananantakul said last month.
But Amornvivat says the industry will be open to all investors who meet the criteria. They must be limited or public companies registered in Thailand with paid-up capital of no less than 10bn baht. Applicants will pay a filing fee of 100K baht, an initial licence fee of 5bn baht and an annual fee of 1bn baht. Licences will be valid for 30 years, renewable every 10 years.
Many of the big names have already raised their hands. They include the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, Wynn Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment and Hard Rock. Genting and Melco may also be in the running.
Stoking competition with “regional clusters”
The current plan calls for up to five casinos spread across the kingdom, with two in the capital city of Bangkok and others in Chiang Mai, Phuket and the Eastern Economic Corridor. In a 2023 analysis, industry veteran and author Daniel Cheng said that approach would “effectively create five regional monopolies.”
“To instill competition,” he wrote, lawmakers should support the “regional cluster concept” with three to four complexes in tourism areas and smaller “Cotai-type cluster zones” in rural regions.
Prissananantakul can get behind that idea. In addition to government-run casinos, he proposed a wide-ranging industry that would better share the wealth.
