Draft Thai casino bill nears cabinet deliberation
Deputy finance minister Julapun Amornvivat said a report will be ready for cabinet consideration in three or four weeks.
Thailand.- The Ministry of Finance has announced that the final draft of a bill to legalise entertainment complexes with casinos is nearly complete and will be ready for cabinet review within three to four weeks.
Sixteen government agencies have had input on the proposal initially drafted by a special House committee. This feedback will be included in supplementary documents to the draft.
If it receives cabinet approval, the bill will be sent to the Office of the Council of State for further review before being presented to the House of Representatives.
According to The Nation, government agencies provided comprehensive feedback on both the economic and social implications of the project. While there was unanimous agreement on the potential economic benefits, several agencies emphasised the need for mechanisms to mitigate the social impacts of gambling.
The bill proposes the formation of a national committee, which would include representatives from various agencies, to oversee the project. Five locations are considered potential hosts for casino complexes: two in Bangkok, and one each in the Eastern Economic Corridor, Chiang Mai, and Phuket. In May, Julapun Amornvivat suggested that the casino component would be no more than around 5 per cent of the project’s total area.
