{"id":777023628,"date":"2025-03-04T10:07:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T13:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023628"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:11:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:11:52","slug":"thailand-drops-plan-to-limit-casino-entry-for-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thailand-drops-plan-to-limit-casino-entry-for-citizens","title":{"rendered":"Thailand drops plan to limit casino entry for citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The planned financial test has been deemed too strict as it would have excluded most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- Deputy finance minister Julapun Amornvivat<\/strong> has announced that the government has decided against a proposal that would have required Thai nationals to have at least THB50m (US$1.5m) in fixed deposits for at least six months before being allowed to gamble in casinos. Instead, Thai nationals will need to demonstrate a three-year tax history <\/strong>to gain entry to casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amornvivat said the change was made to allow broader access as the original criteria would have excluded most citizens. Amornvivat noted that there are only about 10,000 bank accounts in Thailand with deposits exceeding THB50m, which would have left over 70 million people unable to enter casinos. The casino entrance fee for Thais will remain at THB5,000 (US$144).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft bill<\/a> was approved on January 13 and sent to the Council of State for review, after which it will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration. The legislation proposes\u00a030-year casino licences with the option for a 10-year renewal. Complexes would be located in designated areas and operated by companies registered in Thailand with a minimum paid-up capital of THB10bn (US$283m). A policy panel led by the prime minister and a regulatory agency would oversee the industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts at Citigroup have forecast that casinos in\u00a0Thailand 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 only behind Macau and Las Vegas.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

See also:<\/span> Most Thais oppose casino legalisation, survey shows<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The planned financial test has been deemed too strict as it would have excluded most people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20864,"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 government has revised its proposed casino entry requirements for Thai nationals, replacing a strict THB50m fixed deposit rule with a three-year tax history requirement to ensure broader access. The draft legislation, which includes 30-year licences and a THB10bn minimum paid-up capital for operators, is progressing through review, with Citigroup forecasting annual GGR of US$1.91bn.","focusai_entities":"Julapun Amornvivat, Citigroup, Council of State, House of Representatives","focusai_location":"Thailand, Singapore, Macau, Las Vegas","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact of revised entry criteria?","query":"What is the projected impact of the revised Thai national entry criteria (three-year tax history vs. THB50m deposit) on the addressable market size and the US$1.91bn GGR forecast?"},{"label":"Governance framework specifics?","query":"Can further details be provided on the proposed governance frameworks for the new regulatory agency and the policy panel led by the prime minister, particularly regarding their oversight scope and enforcement powers?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[23911,23907],"class_list":["post-777023628","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\/777023628","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=777023628"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023663,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023628\/revisions\/777023663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}