{"id":777033659,"date":"2025-10-27T07:17:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T10:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777033659"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:49:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:49:25","slug":"pheu-thai-warns-of-billions-in-lost-revenue-from-poker-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pheu-thai-warns-of-billions-in-lost-revenue-from-poker-ban","title":{"rendered":"Pheu Thai warns of billions in lost revenue from poker ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Thienthong said an annual Poker Tour Festival could be a magnet for high-spending tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Thailand.- The Pheu Thai Party<\/strong> has strongly criticised the government\u2019s move to reclassify poker as a form of gambling, warning that it may cost the country 1.4bn baht in lost revenue<\/strong> every year. Sorawong Thienthong<\/strong>, acting party secretary-general and former minister of tourism and sports, cited figures from the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB)<\/strong>, which estimated that an average participant at a poker event spends about 20,000 baht daily over a 7-14 day period<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thienthong said an annual Poker Tour Festival<\/strong> could be a magnet for high-spending tourists, thanks to the country\u2019s network of hotels, convention centres and international airports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, prime minister and interior minister Anutin Charnvirakul rescinded a ministerial order<\/a> issued in July that recognised poker as a legal game of skill, thereby reinstating the country\u2019s long-standing ban on all card games associated with gambling. Thienthong says this defies international practices, noting that poker is a globally recognised sport with over 50 member federations, 450,000 professional players, and an estimated 100 million recreational players worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cThe International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) has recognized poker as a ‘mind sport’ since 2024, as it involves analytical thinking, strategy, and mental endurance. In July this year, the Sports Authority of Thailand endorsed poker and flag football as official sports with clear restrictions against gambling at competitions. So, the government can\u2019t use gambling as an excuse.\u201d <\/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> Thailand reinstates poker ban<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thienthong said an annual Poker Tour Festival could be a magnet for high-spending tourists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2395,"featured_media":777033661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Pheu Thai Party has criticized Thailand's government for reclassifying poker as gambling, reversing a prior recognition as a game of skill. This policy shift is projected to result in 1.4 billion baht in annual lost tourism revenue, impacting the potential for high-spending poker tour festivals. The decision contradicts international practices where poker is recognized as a mind sport.","focusai_entities":"Pheu Thai Party, Sorawong Thienthong, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB), Anutin Charnvirakul, International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), Sports Authority of Thailand","focusai_location":"Thailand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Impact Assessment","query":"What are the specific governance framework implications for potential integrated resort developments in Thailand following this reclassification of poker, particularly concerning gaming vertical offerings and projected GGR?"},{"label":"Economic Revenue Forecast","query":"How will the estimated 1.4 billion baht annual revenue loss from poker tourism impact Thailand's broader economic diversification strategies, and what alternative high-value tourism initiatives are being considered?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[23911],"class_list":["post-777033659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033659","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\/2395"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777033659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777033720,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033659\/revisions\/777033720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777033661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777033659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777033659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777033659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}