Thailand’s Casino Complex: 90% of Patrons Expected to be Locals

[webfact]

File photo courtesy: Wikipedia

 

Thailand is poised to move forward with an ambitious entertainment complex project that includes a casino. According to the Finance Ministry, the majority of the casino’s patrons—up to 90%—are expected to be Thai locals. Public hearings are ongoing for the draft law governing this new venture, fulfilling constitutional requirements.

 

Heading the initiative is caretaker Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat. A special House committee under his leadership has studied the feasibility and submitted its findings to the Cabinet, prompting the Finance Ministry to draft the necessary legislation.

 

The study draws parallels with Macau, where casino gambling attracts at least 10% of the population, primarily locals. Applying this metric to Thailand, the committee projects that 37 million Thai residents could be potential casino visitors.

 

With 11 million foreign tourists in Thailand in 2022, the committee anticipates a combined figure of 4.8 million potential gamblers, of which 3.7 million would be Thai residents.

 

These projections appear realistic. According to a Finance Ministry source, 4.48 million Thais engaged in card gambling in 2021. It's anticipated that some of these Thai gamblers, who previously ventured to neighboring countries, would instead patronize local casinos once they open.

 

The draft law assigns significant authority to the prime minister, who will enforce the law, and to the Entertainment Complex Policy Committee, chaired by the prime minister, which will manage complex-related policies.

 

Companies seeking a concession must be either limited or public limited companies with at least 10 billion baht in registered capital. Each licence will have a 30-year validity, renewable for additional 10-year terms, and feature a 5 billion baht fee and an annual 1 billion baht renewal cost.

 

For Thai patrons, the entrance fee to the casino will be capped at 5,000 baht per person, according to a Bangkok Post report. Thus, the project stands as a significant economic gamble with high-stakes expectations.

 

-- 2024-08-26

 

 

Get the ASEAN NOW daily NEWSLETTER - Click HERE to subscribe

 

[Emdog]

As if Many Thais are already way over their heads in debt.... ah but a big gambling win will take care of all that.... not

[bkk6060]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

For Thai patrons, the entrance fee to the casino will be capped at 5,000 baht per person, according to a Bangkok Post report. Thus, the project stands as a significant economic gamble with high-stakes expectations.

So, foreigners will be free?  

[MalcolmB]

3 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

So, foreigners will be free?  

Yes, terrible case of dual pricing.

 

The Thais spend more than that now on average for traveling and accommodation to travel to the border casinos. Thousands of them every day.

 

They can lose their money in Thailand now instead, and the border casinos will mostly go broke without Somchai and Noi playing Baccarat.

 

Smart move by the government. Keep the poor Thais out with the entry fee. 

[Trippy]

The whole idea of a casino should be to draw foreign money into Thailand, not recycle locals money.

 

If they hired someone with actual casino experience, they could stop playing their guessing games.

[BakedPanda]

I thought the entrance for locals was going to be like 5,000 baht, I doubt many will show up at all. 

[MarkBR]

4 minutes ago, Trippy said:

The whole idea of a casino should be to draw foreign money into Thailand, not recycle locals money.

 

If they hired someone with actual casino experience, they could stop playing their guessing games.

They may be thinking of Chinese gamblers.

[Trippy]

1 minute ago, MarkBR said:

They may be thinking of Chinese gamblers.

Yes I am, but if the people in charge state that 90% of the customers will be Thai, they are not.

[connda]

How do I define "hypocrisy?"

Gambling is the scourge of society and we must arrest all participants of evil gambling dens.
Gambling at casinos run by our connected and wealthy friends is good for society.

 

 

Edited August 26 by connda

[Will B Good]

 

 

Maybe I dreamt it..... wasn't this one of the original prerequisites for casinos getting the go ahead ...

 

........'No Thais allowed....foreigners only'?

[Trippy]

8 minutes ago, BakedPanda said:

I thought the entrance for locals was going to be like 5,000 baht, I doubt many will show up at all. 

Usually what happens is if they charge an entrance fee, it's returned in chips that can only be used to play not cashed out. So if you bet 100 baht and win, you get a real 100 baht chip, but if you lose you only lose the fake chip. 

The charge just makes sure you have money to gamble with. 

Of course being Thailand, anything else is possible.

[BakedPanda]

Just now, Trippy said:

Usually what happens is if they charge an entrance fee, it's returned in chips that can only be used to play not cashed out. So if you bet 100 baht and win, you get a real 100 baht chip, but if you lose you only lose the fake chip. 

The charge just makes sure you have money to gamble with. 

Of course being Thailand, anything else is possible.

Wether they give you something or not is not really relevant. As far it was proposed now this is purely an entrance fee, to deter them gambling too much or only if they apparently have more significant funds to waste.

[Trippy]

2 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Maybe I dreamt it..... wasn't this one of the original prerequisites for casinos getting the go ahead ...

 

........'No Thais allowed....foreigners only'?

That was last year, next year they'll probably change it again, it's the blind leading the blind, 555

[Trippy]

Just now, BakedPanda said:

Wether they give you something or not is not really relevant. As far it was proposed now this is purely an entrance fee, to deter them gambling too much or only if they apparently have more significant funds to waste.

Not relevant? Have you ever gambled?

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, Trippy said:

That was last year, next year they'll probably change it again, it's the blind leading the blind, 555

 

 

Yes...what was i thinking/ ....Been here long enough to know Monday's policy might be totally different to Tuesday's.....

[CanadaSam]

This is a situation where gambling is already taking place in Thailand on a large scale, but totally unregulated, making mafia type criminals rich.

 

The gov't simply wants to regulate it, so they can add to their coffers, and perhaps add some semblance of law and order around an already established illegal industry.

 

I say, go for it.

 

 

[Khyron]

I really hope they go back to the original plan of no Thais. Asians have some sort of genetic predisposition for gambling, not racist but true. Go to any casino in the US or Canada, the vast majority are Asians. I would agree, once the locals get a whiff of the gambling bug, the household debt will skyrocket, loan sharks will make a bundle unfortunately.

[FritsSikkink]

43 minutes ago, Trippy said:

If they hired someone with actual casino experience, they could stop playing their guessing games.

There are loads of illegal casinos, so I would think they have experience.

[KannikaP]

46 minutes ago, Trippy said:

The whole idea of a casino should be to draw foreign money into Thailand, not recycle locals money.

Will the Casinos accept the Bht 10,000 Digital Wallet?   555

[brianthainess]

So a Thai would have to win 5K just to break even

1 hour ago, webfact said:

r Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat. A special House committee under his leadership has studied the feasibility and submitted its findings to the Cabinet, prompting the Finance Ministry to draft the necessary legislation.

Maybe he and his cohorts can afford 5k entry but the general population can't, this goes to show how out of touch they are. Still with a 10k cash handout they will be queuing at the doors. 

[brianthainess]

The loan sharks will be rubbing their hands in glee.

[Will B Good]

Just now, brianthainess said:

The loan sharks will be rubbing their hands in glee.

 

 

There'll be more of them than punters at the front door.....plus the RTP sniffing around.....it is going to get crowded.

[brianthainess]

48 minutes ago, MarkBR said:

They may be thinking of Chinese gamblers.

[Gottfrid]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

According to the Finance Ministry, the majority of the casino’s patrons—up to 90%—are expected to be Thai locals.

I assume they mean domestic players. However, nice to read they do some research, because that is exactly how it looks in most countries with casinos, that are not placed between borders.

[LennyW]

Absolute disaster for Thailand, gambling and domestic debt is a huge problem already, this will have a disastrous effect on Thai society. 

[LennyW]

9 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

The loan sharks will be rubbing their hands in glee.

Unfortunately this will be true!!

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, LennyW said:

Absolute disaster for Thailand, gambling and domestic debt is a huge problem already, this will have a disastrous effect on Thai society. 

 

Agree....'for Thailand' .....but those Thais with snouts in the trough couldn't give two grunts for Thailand when it comes to bunce.

[OneMoreFarang]

I would love to hear what those politicians think will happen with all those illegal casinos which exist now in Thailand. Will they all close and everybody will only go to the one and only legal casino?

And what will happen to all those officials and influential people who now profit from the illegal casinos? Will they all just accept that that's the way it should be? No way!

[NoDisplayName]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The study draws parallels with Macau, where casino gambling attracts at least 10% of the population, primarily locals. Applying this metric to Thailand, the committee projects that 37 million Thai residents could be potential casino visitors.

 

How to apply 10% of locals to Thai population?

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

According to the Finance Ministry, the majority of the casino’s patrons—up to 90%—are expected to be Thai locals.

 

Thailand - Hub of the new maff.

[crazykopite]

Not a wise decision most Thais are up to there eyeballs with mountains of debt and this will only make it even worse the only winners will be the lone sharks