News Forum - Thailand’s casino odds looking up as House Committee wraps study

[Thaiger]

The potential of casino legalisation in Thailand took a significant step forward with the House Committee on casino legalisation concluding its comprehensive study on the matter. Senior figures from the Pheu Thai Party have revealed that the study’s findings will be presented to parliament in the coming week. The special House Committee, chaired by Deputy … …

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[Khunmark]

House committee are courting the devil. The cash injection for which the government will be the beneficiary won’t offset the dire social costs.

[MrStretch]

I agree with Mark.  Considering the perils and social damage that gambling already contributes to Thai society, I can't imagine this being a positive.

Perhaps the South Korean model would be okay.  When I lived there, South Koreans were prohibited from entering a casino, unless they were an employee.  Gambling by locals was prohibited.

[ChrisS]

8 hours ago, Khunmark said:

The cash injection for which the government will be the beneficiary won’t offset the dire social costs.

Given that illegal gambling already happens in every Thai village I personally doubt the introduction of well regulated casinos would have a huge impact on the 'social cost'. Of course there are other downsides like the tendancy for casinos to be used as fronts for money laundering etc.

[Khunmark]

12 hours ago, ChrisS said:

Given that illegal gambling already happens in every Thai village I personally doubt the introduction of well regulated casinos would have a huge impact on the 'social cost'. Of course there are other downsides like the tendancy for casinos to be used as fronts for money laundering etc.

https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/foreign-casinos-have-been-a-disaster-for-cambodia/
 

Cambodia is a case in point, on the cost/benefit equation of introducing casino’s. My home country (Australia) has encountered the cost of casinos too.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/24/crown-resorts-found-unfit-to-run-casino-in-western-australia-but-will-not-lose-licence

If a country like Australia, which has a far more sophisticated and thorough regulatory regime than Thailand, has difficulties bringing casinos to heel, you can be sure the introduction of casinos to Thailand will be a spectacular failure. Not forgetting Thailand’s bungled the policies on the legalisation of cannabis, a domain that is far less complex to regulate than casinos.