The Thai government is proceeding with its strategies for the development of casino resorts in the country, the change in direction in Thailand’s gambling policy. The Deputy Finance Minister, Julapun Amornvivat, said that the government of Thailand will go ahead with large entertainment facilities that will be associated with casino along the line with public opinion polls where 8 of 10 respondents favored the measure.
Minister of Finance has drafted bill of the proposed entertainment complex that are supposed to legalise these large scale places where casino also plays important role. Mr. According to Amornvivat the said bill will in fact be modified to include some aspects that people have presented during the public hearing before forwarding it the cabinet for other coalition parties to approve. If passed, the bill will go to the Council of State for consideration then to the House of Representatives.
This is an important shift for Thailand where all but horse racing, sanctioned by the authorities, and the official lottery are outlawed. Thus, government demand for casino complexes is motivated by the fact that the economic impact can generate more tourism revenue and a large number of working places. In a study carried out by the Finance Ministry, the entertainment complexes that are being planned are expected to draw mainly Thais with potential for 90% of revenues from the Thai gamblers.
This hasDiscussed the plan due to the support it has received from the ruling Pheu Thai Party that has Launched a defense stating that the project will take underground gambling into the legal corridor and increase tax revenue greatly. The party argues they supply funding for education development for instance and their legalization could amount to more than half of the GDP. In addition, they say that with casino entertainment, the Thai economy will be able to harness the ‘fun’ economy believed to be worth approximately US$ 13.7 trillion in the world.
However, it has not received support from different people as follows: Critics’ concerns’ include increased risk of problematic gambling and openings to syndicate businesses. But the Bhumjaithai Party, which is the junior partner in the ruling coalition, has raised concerns that the pros may not be able to offset the cons of having one. The opponent of the plan has also include the Democrat Party.
Nevertheless, the government still seems eager to proceed with further developments. For the companies those who want to get a concession in an entertainment complex, must be limited or public limited but have paid up capital of no less than 10 billion baht. The company will be availed with licences for a period of 30 years, renewable up to a period of 10 years consecutively. They have proposed the license fee to be 5 billion baht for each license, and the annual fee to be 1 billion baht.
However, to ensure some locals take up jobs in the projects, the government has mooted a proposal that citizens be charged an entrance fee to access projects that are under the FDI threshold, at a maximum of 5,000 baht per individual. The measure is presumably an attempt to prevent thelocals from indulging in gambling but at the same time still use the facilities.
The potential for these casino complexes is still undetermined, however, licenses could be granted for five casinos; with two in Bangkok, one in Chiang Mai, one in Phuket, and one within the Eastern Economic Corridor consisting of Chachoengsao, Chonburi, and Rayong.
As Thailand progresses in this much debated plan, it stands among the other ASEAN country like Cambodia, Singapore, Myanmar, the Philippines and others in permitting casinos. Implementing measures to control and even introducing a gambling tax, the government wants to increase economic revenues and homeland became to offer more competitive chances in the sphere of the region’s tourism.
To this end, the positive impact of this initiative depends on how it will be done and the presence of proper regulation that will contain negative effects of the same. Over time, the simple proposal will attract and raise a lot of controversies amongst the legislators, engineer and technicians, and the community in general. This daring undertaking can redefine entertainment for Thais and affect the nation’s future economy and culture in the decade to come.