A full report prepared by a House committee on the legalisation of casinos in Thailand and the setting up of entertainment complexes, including casinos, will be submitted to the House of Representatives tomorrow (Thursday) for consideration.
In the report, the House committee is to propose that Bangkok, the Eastern Economic Corridor, 22 tourist provinces and border provinces with immigration checkpoints are potential sites for the establishment of casinos.
These provinces include Phuket, Phang-nga, and Krabi in the south, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phayao in the North and Udon Thani, Khon Kaen, Ubon Ratchathani and Nong Khai in the northeast.
Eight types of online gambling are also being proposed by the committee. They include online casinos, spread betting, online sports gambling, event betting, such as on-election results, E-sports betting, online bingo, and foreign lottery betting.
The casinos would be open to both Thais and foreigners, but Thais must be at least 21 years old, with no less than 500,000 baht in their bank accounts for the past six months. They must pay an entry fee and money won when gambling in casinos will be subject to tax.
The proposed entertainment complexes must include a five-star hotel, a large shopping mall, a beauty salon, an amusement park, a zoo, and in-door and outdoor stadia, in addition to the casino.
The committee is also proposing in the report that entertainment complexes to be built in Thailand must be bigger than those in Singapore and that the projects should be joint public-private investments and be managed as a special administrative zone, such as Macau.
