{"id":777022829,"date":"2025-02-12T10:04:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T13:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777022829"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:52:35","slug":"thailand-pm-hears-chinese-presidents-warnings-over-casino-legalisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-pm-hears-chinese-presidents-warnings-over-casino-legalisation","title":{"rendered":"Thailand PM hears Chinese president&#8217;s warnings over casino legalisation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Thai prime minister said she would consider China\u2019s perspective on gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Thailand.- Prime Minister <strong>Paetongtarn Shinawatra<\/strong> says Thailand&#8217;s plans <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/legalisation-of-casinos-in-thailand-draft-bill-could-be-sent-to-cabinet-by-year-end\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to legalise casinos<\/a> were discussed at last week&#8217;s meeting with Chinese president<strong> Xi Jinping<\/strong>. Paetongtarn said Xi warned that the legalisation could increase criminal activity and lead to gambling harm. She insisted that casinos would be less than 10 per cent of each project, and that they would be family-friendly destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She noted that illegal gambling is prevalent and does not benefit the public while a well-regulated legal casino in a special economic zone could generate tax revenue for education and national development. The prime minister assured Xi that Thailand would consider China&#8217;s concerns and said that Thailand is open to learning from China&#8217;s way of managing tourism growth and its social impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thailand&#8217;s draft bill&nbsp;proposes&nbsp;30-year casino licences with the option for a 10-year renewal. It stipulates that complexes should be located in designated areas and operated by companies registered in Thailand with a minimum paid-up capital of THB10bn (US$283m).&nbsp;Analysts at Citigroup have forecast that casinos in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/gambling-in-thailand-casinos-could-generate-us9-1bn-in-annual-ggr-analysts-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Thailand could generate US$1.91bn annually in gross gaming revenue (GGR)<\/a>. That would surpass the GGR of Singapore\u2019s two casinos and place Thailand &#8220;only behind Macau and Las Vegas.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"China&#039;s Xi calls for deeper trust, cooperation with Thailand as he meets PM Paetongtarn\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ipVw6HYzVus?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: CNA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Former Thai prime minister criticises plan to legalise casinos and online gambling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Former prime minister&nbsp;<strong>Abhisit Vejjajiva<\/strong>&nbsp;has criticised the Thai government\u2019s plan to&nbsp;legalise&nbsp;casinos and online gambling During a seminar about gambling initiatives, Vejjajiva said the plan was \u201cdangerous\u201d and that online gambling, in particular, would cause a negative social impact by increasing household debts and crime rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Bangkok Post, Vejjajiva said casinos would not be beneficial for Thai workers as workers from neighbouring countries would be likely to be hired there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<strong>Stop Gambling Foundation<\/strong>, along with a group of legal experts, anti-gambling advocates and representatives from various institutions and professional groups, aims to collect 50,000 signatures to demand a referendum on the plan. A survey conducted by<strong>&nbsp;the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida)&nbsp;<\/strong>found the majority of Thais to be opposed to the government\u2019s plans to legalise casino entertainment complexes and online gambling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Thai prime minister said she would consider China\u2019s perspective on gambling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":15191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Thailand's Prime Minister discussed casino legalization plans with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who expressed concerns about increased crime and gambling harm. Despite domestic opposition and warnings from a former PM, the government is advancing a draft bill proposing 30-year licenses for integrated resorts in special economic zones, with analysts forecasting significant GGR potential. The initiative aims to generate tax revenue and regulate prevalent illegal gambling.","focusai_entities":"Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Xi Jinping, Abhisit Vejjajiva, Citigroup, Stop Gambling Foundation, National Institute of Development Administration (Nida)","focusai_location":"Thailand, China, Singapore, Macau, Las Vegas, Bangkok","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.98), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Framework Details","query":"What specific responsible gambling and AML frameworks are proposed within Thailand's draft bill to address concerns raised by President Xi Jinping and domestic opposition regarding social harm and criminal activity?"},{"label":"Market Entry Strategy","query":"Given the projected GGR and stringent capital requirements, what are the optimal market entry strategies for international operators considering Thailand, particularly concerning local partnership mandates and special economic zone stipulations?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[23911,23907],"class_list":["post-777022829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022829","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\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777022829"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777022860,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022829\/revisions\/777022860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777022829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777022829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777022829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}