Thai cabinet pushes casino legislation to Parliament, igniting industry excitement

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters on Thursday that Parliament will now review the bill in the House of Representatives. Following the House’s green light, it will then go to the Senate for endorsement before receiving the final seal of approval from King Rama X.

A sticking point for many international operators is the existing stipulation in the bill of entry requirements for local Thais of 50 million baht (US$1.5 million) in the bank and 5,000 baht (US$147) for each entry.

“I’m sure most of us are surprised at the continuing inclusion of the Thai baht 50 million deposit entry condition. That one simple condition will cause most gaming operators to reconsider their involvement and just as importantly the potential size of their investment,” says Ben Lee, Managing Partner at IGamiX Management and Consulting.

Another concern in the existing bill for the industry is the allotted space per Entertainment Complex property, presently slated at 10%, but the space of the overall ECs is not defined at present.

According to the Thai government, the bill will have further public hearings for proposed locations of the ECs, which the government announced will be somewhere in Bangkok, Chon Buri, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

Thai government spokesman Jirayu Houngsub said that EC operators will be forbidden from electronically broadcasting gambling from casinos, also known as proxy betting, and must adhere to standing anti-money laundering law.

“It’s a giant leap for Thailand, and a small step for the casino industry,” says James Kaplan, a board advisor to Bangkok Land Public Company Ltd, which owns the IMPACT Arena, Conference and Exhibition Centre in northern metropolitan Bangkok.

“Now we need to get into the details of entry investment, tax regulation, mitigating society risks, financial transparency and anti-money laundering in the bill,” says Kaplan.

Protests like those on 11 March outside the Government House against the bill may arise in the next weeks heading to the 10 April close of the present legislative session.

“Political debate is to be expected on such a hot topic as the entertainment complex bill,” says Niall Murray, Founder and Chairman of Murray International, a Macau-based consultancy. “I believe there is a strong desire to pass this bill, and it will pass with adjustments and politically motivated concessions,” says Murray. “This is very exciting to see Thailand re-energise its tourism industry,” Kaplan adds