{"id":777024564,"date":"2025-03-27T09:53:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T12:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777024564"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:24:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:24:25","slug":"thai-cabinet-passes-casino-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thai-cabinet-passes-casino-bill","title":{"rendered":"Thai cabinet passes casino bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The bill still needs approval from the House of Representatives, Senate and the king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- The cabinet has today (March 27) approved the bill to legalise casinos in Thailand. It will now be sent to the House of Representatives. If passed, it will then need approval from the Senate and the king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft legislation would allow entertainment complexes with casinos in designated areas<\/a> 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. The government would consider what types of projects and offerings would be considered. Casinos would occupy less than 10 per cent of each complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The draft bill stipulates that\u00a0Thais wanting to access a casino<\/a> would be required to pay a fee of THB5,000 (US$150) and show proof\u00a0of at least THB50m (US$1.5m) in fixed deposits. Deputy finance minister\u00a0Julapun Amornvivat<\/strong>\u00a0had criticised the measure, which would exclude most citizens, but said it was decided to keep it in the bill and make possible amendments later.<\/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\n

An online survey conducted by the Ministry of Finance <\/strong>from February 28 to March 14 found that among 70,000 people, 80 per cent back the country\u2019s proposed\u00a0casino legislation. However, a more recent poll<\/a> conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida)\u00a0<\/strong>showed that many Thais\u00a0have concerns about possible negative impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thai tourism operators warn that legalising casinos could lead to drop in Chinese visitors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The opposition People\u2019s Party has said that tourism operators are concerned that\u00a0casino legislation\u00a0could cause Chinese visitation to drop. MP\u00a0Parit Wacharasindhu<\/strong>\u00a0noted that Beijing attempts to restrict Chinese citizens from travelling to gamble. He suggested this has had a negative impact on destinations with legal casinos, such as Singapore, the Philippines, and Macau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra<\/strong> met Chinese president Xi Jinping<\/strong>. Xi warned that the legalisation could increase criminal activity and lead to gambling harm. Shinawatra <\/strong>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>\n

See also:<\/span> Thai casino resorts should be established in secondary cities, THA president says<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bill still needs approval from the House of Representatives, Senate and the king.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777018832,"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 cabinet has approved a bill to legalize integrated resort casinos, which now awaits further legislative and royal assent. The proposed framework includes stringent capital requirements for operators and a high entry fee for Thai citizens, aiming to generate an estimated US$1.91bn in annual GGR. Despite public support, concerns persist regarding potential negative impacts on tourism, particularly from Chinese visitors, and increased criminal activity, as voiced by Chinese President Xi Jinping.","focusai_entities":"Julapun Amornvivat, Citigroup, Ministry of Finance, National Institute of Development Administration, People\u2019s Party, Parit Wacharasindhu, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Xi Jinping","focusai_location":"Thailand, Singapore, Macau, Las Vegas, Philippines, Beijing","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on regional GGR?","query":"How might Thailand's projected US$1.91bn GGR impact the competitive landscape and market share of established iGaming hubs like Singapore and Macau?"},{"label":"Mitigating Chinese visitor drop?","query":"What specific governance frameworks and marketing strategies will the Thai government implement to mitigate the risk of a decline in Chinese tourism due to Beijing's anti-gambling policies?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,158,16333],"tags":[23907],"class_list":["post-777024564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024564","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=777024564"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777024586,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024564\/revisions\/777024586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777018832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777024564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777024564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777024564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}