National —
The Thai Cabinet today approved a draft law regulating comprehensive entertainment complexes, capping casino space at 10% of the property.
Key updates to the bill include the joint oversight of the law by the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, as well as expanded powers for the Policy Committee to recommend policies and determine locations for these businesses.
The bill also introduces a significant restriction, which limits casinos to no more than 10% of the total area of each entertainment complex. Moreover, casino operators will be treated as financial institutions under anti-money laundering laws, and Thai nationals wishing to gamble must have a fixed deposit in a Thai bank of at least 50 million baht for six months. This requirement though, lawmakers admitted, would likely change in an amendment down the road as estimates show only 10,000 Thais nationwide may have this level of assets as required out of tens of millions.
Operators will be prohibited from increasing gambling activity or the number of gamblers in casinos in terms of promotion, although it’s vague what this looks like in reality. The bill also introduces new penalties and criminal offenses, such as those related to online gambling connected to casinos.
The bill has undergone three rounds of public consultation, receiving 71,289 comments, 80% of which were in support of the proposed law.
Meanwhile, earlier today, a large group of protesters came out to protest the bill. They expressed concerns about the potential negative effects of legalizing casinos and entertainment businesses. They also claimed that the government was ignoring petitions they had done with over a hundred thousand people opposed to the act. They also said they would step up protesting in the weeks to come.
TPN media notes this doesn’t make casinos final or a done deal. It now goes to Parliament for much further discussion and voting, needing to pass both levels of Parliament, which by no means is a sure thing.
This article originally appeared on our sister website The Pattaya News.
