Thailand could become the casino capital of Southeast Asia if the incoming government backs a draft law on entertainment complexes.
The previous prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, voiced support for legalising the huge “grey economy” of gambling to enhance oversight and tax income. Casino complexes were an opportunity to boost Thailand’s tourism industry and economy, he said.
The Entertainment Complex Bill proposed by a Srettha government committee outlines details such as the definition, licensing requirements, and minimum investment for casinos.
Srettha’s successor Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who also hails from the ruling Pheu Thai Party, has so far been silent on the legalisation push.
However, her father, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, recently said entertainment complexes incorporating casinos would help boost the country’s competitiveness.
Investors would build large and modern sports stadiums and concert halls as part of the complexes, he explained. Thaksin is widely seen as the patriarch and de facto chief of Pheu Thai, which is officially led by Paetongtarn.
Regional casino boom
Southeast Asia has witnessed a boom in the gambling industry over the past decade, though Thailand remains the only country on the mainland without a legal casino.
All of Thailand’s immediate neighbours – Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, along with Singapore and Vietnam – have legalised casinos for foreign gamblers, but either restrict or ban entry for residents.
Large numbers of Thai gamblers now frequent border casinos in Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. Legalising gambling houses in Thailand could redirect this money into domestic businesses and tax revenues.
Thai gamblers would account for up to 90% of their customers, according to a recent Finance Ministry report. An estimated 350 legal casinos operate in Southeast Asia – from Myanmar to the Philippines.
The Economist reported in June that Philippine authorities plan to build at least one more gambling resort every two years on top of the 43 currently operating in the country.
Singapore’s government has extended licences of the city state’s two casino resorts, which have been running since 2010.
Muslim-majority Malaysia, where gambling is banned, is considering a second casino for foreigners. In Cambodia, the number of licensed casinos increased from 101 in 2021 to 174 last year.
Southeast Asia’s largest gambling hubs are Star Vegas International Resort & Casino in Cambodia, Dansavanh Nam Ngum Resort Casino in Laos, Sky Casino Genting Highlands in Malaysia, City of Dreams Manila Solaire Resort & Casino in the Philippines, Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands and Resort World Casino Sentosa, and Ho Tram Resort Casino in Vietnam.
Pros and cons
Gambling-entertainment complexes are expected to bring Thailand problems along with benefits. Legalisation of gambling may create jobs and generate significant revenue for state coffers, but it will also likely trigger gambling addiction, associated crime, and other social ills.
Legal casinos pay taxes on revenues that can be used to fund various public services. Governments also benefit from casino licensing fees and other levies.
Legalisation creates jobs for the construction, operation, and maintenance of casinos, as well as in the hospitality, retail, and service sectors. This can lead to increased economic activity.
Casinos may help to draw tourists, resulting in more jobs and income for local businesses and residents. However, many countries have discovered legalised gambling spawns crimes such as theft, fraud, and embezzlement.
Gambling establishments can also attract organised crime involving money laundering and other illicit activities.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says many of the region’s existing legal casinos show “accelerating levels of infiltration” by organised crime.
“Casinos and related businesses have proven both capable and efficient in moving and laundering massive volumes of state-backed fiat as well as cryptocurrencies undetected, creating channels for effectively integrating billions in criminal proceeds into the formal financial system,” UNODC said in its report “Casinos, Money Laundering, Underground Banking, and Transnational Organised Crime in East and Southeast Asia: A Hidden and Accelerating Threat”, released in January.
Jeremy Douglas, UNODC’s top official in Southeast Asia, said recently that casinos function as “a shadow banking system that allows people to move money quickly, seamlessly, jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction, with almost no restriction”.
Money laundering had thus become “easier than ever” and “fundamental to the expansion of the transnational criminal economy” in the region.
