{"id":15067,"date":"2021-02-22T15:21:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T15:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=15067"},"modified":"2026-04-23T21:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T00:38:05","slug":"analysts-doubt-thailand-will-legalise-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/analysts-doubt-thailand-will-legalise-gambling","title":{"rendered":"Analysts doubt Thailand will legalise gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite apparent political interest, some believe a legal gambling market in Thailand is not on the cards for now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- It emerged last month that authorities in Thailand were considering legalising some forms of gambling<\/a><\/em><\/strong> in a bid to tackle the problem of illegal gambling dens, but analysts remain sceptical that such a move will happen. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Kaplan<\/strong><\/strong>, CEO of Destination Capital<\/strong>, a Bangkok based private equity real estate investment and asset management company, is among those with doubts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaplan said: \u201cThailand is somewhat of an enigma clouding the public perception of a freewheeling fun and party tourist destination with the cultural reality of a very conservative society.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReligious beliefs and respect together with conservative family values pervades Thai culture. Buddhism is the fundamental base of the education and belief system, and for most people, gaming is really a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another executive, who remained anonymous, told media sources that gambling legalisation is unlikely since many of the illegal gambling dens are known to be under the protection of local police and other powerful figures<\/a><\/em><\/strong> who earn huge sums from their operation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also concerns that if gambling were legalised, the industry would not be able to attract foreign investors<\/strong> since Thai laws prohibit foreigners from owning land or owning more than 49 per cent of a Thai company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaplan said: \u201cThailand needs to reinvent itself. You need gaming as a way of bringing in fresh activities and a fresh new market, as well as spending on infrastructure so it rises the tide for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite apparent political interest, some believe a legal gambling market in Thailand is not on the cards for now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Despite political discourse surrounding the potential legalization of gambling in Thailand to combat illicit operations, industry analysts express significant skepticism. Key impediments include deeply ingrained conservative societal values, religious objections, the pervasive influence of powerful figures protecting illegal dens, and restrictive foreign ownership laws that deter international capital investment.","focusai_entities":"James Kaplan, Destination Capital","focusai_location":"Thailand, Bangkok","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Foreign Ownership Impact","query":"What specific legislative amendments to the foreign ownership cap (49%) would be required to attract significant international capital and B2B\/B2C operators to a legalized Thai iGaming market?"},{"label":"Illegal Market Transition","query":"How would a proposed regulatory framework address the entrenched economic interests currently benefiting from illegal gambling operations, and what enforcement mechanisms would ensure a successful transition to a legal market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,439,154,158,16333],"tags":[229,512],"class_list":["post-15067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news","category-legal-news","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15067"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15081,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15067\/revisions\/15081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}