Thailand’s House of Representatives have approved a report on the proposal to establish a special casino-entertainment zone, with areas within a 100 KM radius of Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao Airports being suitable locations for such a project. The report, which took 240 days to complete, was discussed in a three-hour house meeting this past week. What followed was a 310-9 vote in favour of considering the economic value that an entertainment complex with casino could bring to the Thai economy. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean that casinos are now approved in Thailand. Instead, think of it as a completed step as part of a multi-step process. One MP emphasized that if casinos were to be built, the positive and negative impacts must be thoroughly assessed, and ultimately, the final decision will probably be made by the next government.

Our Take

I’ll be very curious to see how this continues to play out. I’m a fan of the idea. To have a casino complex with hotels, entertainment venues, restaurants, etc. somewhere in the Bangkok area seems pretty cool to me. I’m not a gambler and have only ever been to a casino once in my life, but I think it would be a major benefit as far as raising tax dollars and creating jobs go. Based on the report that I read, it seems like most of the MP’s are on the same page when it comes to potential benefits, but what needs to be sorted out is preventing the money laundering that often comes in the casino space.