{"id":777028922,"date":"2025-07-11T08:51:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T11:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777028922"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T00:05:14","slug":"thaksin-shinawatra-defends-thai-casino-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/thaksin-shinawatra-defends-thai-casino-bill","title":{"rendered":"Thaksin Shinawatra defends Thai casino bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The former PM says a decline in tourism is due to safety concerns, not casino plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- The former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has rejected claims that the proposed Entertainment Complex Bill<\/a> is driving away Chinese tourists. He argues that safety concerns are the real deterrent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during an interview on Nation TV, Thaksin addressed recent criticism from Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul, who blamed the 70\u201390 per cent drop in Chinese arrivals on the controversial casino bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Entertainment Complex policy hasn\u2019t even been implemented yet, so how could it affect tourism?\u201d Thaksin said. \u201cChinese tourists are more worried about scams and personal safety.\u201d He cited government efforts to improve public security, including Smart City development and the installation of AI-powered surveillance as key to restoring confidence among foreign visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thaksin also clarified that the proposed bill, which has now been withdrawn, focuses not only on casinos. He noted that the casino component would occupy just 10 per cent of integrated resorts’ space, with the rest dedicated to hotels, concerts, and family-friendly attractions. Know your customer (KYC) checks would restrict access to people with verifiable income and tax records, excluding politicians and vulnerable groups, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the Entertainment Complex Bill, Thaksin Shinawatra is pushing for the legalisation of online gambling, which he says is needed to rein in underground gaming. He estimated that illicit online gambling and digital scams are taking more than THB300bn (US$920m) a year out of the formal economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He proposed a regulatory framework with mandatory Digital ID verification, a minimum participation age of 20 and real-time monitoring tools to help detect addiction and misuse.<\/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> Thai casino legalisation bill withdrawn<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former PM says a decline in tourism is due to safety concerns, not casino plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":680,"featured_media":13679,"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 Thaksin Shinawatra dismisses claims that the proposed Entertainment Complex Bill, which includes casinos, is deterring Chinese tourists, attributing the decline to safety concerns. He advocates for the legalization of online gambling to combat the illicit market, proposing a robust regulatory framework with Digital ID verification, age restrictions, and real-time monitoring tools.","focusai_entities":"Thaksin Shinawatra, Anutin Charnvirakul, Bhumjaithai Party, Nation TV","focusai_location":"Thailand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.95), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), tech_data (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.85), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Bill Safeguards?","query":"What specific amendments or enhanced governance frameworks would be incorporated into a revised Entertainment Complex Bill to address public safety and social impact concerns, particularly regarding problem gambling and financial crime?"},{"label":"Online Gambling GGR?","query":"What is the projected Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) potential for a regulated online gambling market in Thailand, considering the estimated THB300bn currently attributed to the illicit sector, and how would this impact the formal economy?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[24796,225,4138,342],"class_list":["post-777028922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-entertainment-complex-bill","tag-legislation","tag-online-gambling","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028922","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\/680"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777028922"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777028945,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777028922\/revisions\/777028945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777028922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777028922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777028922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}