{"id":777027492,"date":"2025-06-09T02:18:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T05:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777027492"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:07:58","slug":"former-thai-pm-reaffirms-opposition-to-casino-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/former-thai-pm-reaffirms-opposition-to-casino-bill","title":{"rendered":"Former Thai PM reaffirms opposition to casino bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Senate committee reviewing the bill to legalise casino resorts invited Abhisit Vejjajiva to express his opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- Former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva<\/strong> has strongly criticised the government’s bill to legalise casino resorts<\/a>. Speaking before the\u00a0Senate committee<\/a> reviewing\u00a0the bill, Vejjajiva said the legalisation of entertainment complexes with casinos wouldn’t stop illegal gambling and could harm the country’s image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bangkok Post quoted him saying: “The idea that legal casinos can clean up illegal gambling is flawed. Look at government lotteries; they exist with illegal ones.” He also questioned comparisons to Singapore, arguing that Thailand’s tourism appeal doesn’t rely on gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He suggested that while casinos would generate income for the state, reports indicate that only about 20 per cent would come from foreigners, with 80 per cent from Thai citizens. He argued that the tax the government could collect would likely be less than what could come from non-casino-related sectors as tax rates would have to be competitive with other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Abhisit Vejjajiva.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The government predicts that entertainment complexes with casinos could generate between THB12.04bn (US$353m) and THB39.25bn (US$1.15bn) a year for the state, including taxes from hotels and theme parks. Deputy finance minister\u00a0Julapun Amornvivat\u00a0<\/strong>has said that integrated resorts (IR) could boost Thailand\u2019s gross domestic product<\/a> (GDP) by 0.8 per cent annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u00a0will discuss the casino bill in the next parliamentary session, which starts on July 2.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Philippine election commission disqualifies Porac mayor over alleged gaming links<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate committee reviewing the bill to legalise casino resorts invited Abhisit Vejjajiva to express his opinion.<\/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":"Former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has critically assessed the government's bill to legalize integrated casino resorts, positing that it may not effectively curb illegal gambling, could detrimentally impact the nation's image, and would disproportionately rely on domestic patronage. Despite government projections of substantial state income and a 0.8% GDP uplift, Vejjajiva questions the net economic benefit and the efficacy of such a policy compared to non-casino sectors.","focusai_entities":"Abhisit Vejjajiva, Julapun Amornvivat, Senate, Bangkok Post","focusai_location":"Thailand, Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.95), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Analysis","query":"What specific economic models and data points underpin the government's projection of THB12.04bn-THB39.25bn annual GGR\/NGR and 0.8% GDP uplift, and how do these compare to independent economic assessments?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Details","query":"Beyond the legalization of casino resorts, what specific governance frameworks, B2B\/B2C licensing structures, and responsible gambling protocols are being proposed to mitigate the risks highlighted by critics, particularly regarding domestic player engagement?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[29,24619,225],"class_list":["post-777027492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-finance","tag-legislation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027492","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=777027492"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777027543,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027492\/revisions\/777027543"}],"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=777027492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777027492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777027492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}