SURVEY: Should The Thai government allow for legally operated Casinos?

[Scott]

In your opinion, do you believe it is a good idea for the Thai government to allow for the legal operation of casinos?

Please feel free to post a comment and give us your ideas about how you think casinos should be operated and what affect they will have on the country.

[janpharma]

Who wins by installing casino's? The casino, the maffia and all the corrupt controllers...All the others are losing...

[sabian]

If it could be regulated correctly then fine but it simply cannot or will not be done and used for all manner of under ground money laundering.

[dru2]

Definitely not.

[FloridaExport]

Absolutely could be a positive. Need to ban Thais from gambling (or at least severely limit their maximum monthly losses), make 95% of the jobs within the casino Thai only, strictly enforce all gambling laws, heavily tax the the owners, and make sure all casinos are 100% locally owned.

Is the Thai government capable of implementing all of this? Probably not.

[Kerryd]

Casinos are designed to do one thing - extract money from fools. The house never loses !

Add in the inherent criminal aspect (corruption and potential money laundering) and the number of high-ranking fingers that would be in the cookie jar, you can pretty much be assured that it wouldn't be well regulated and there wouldn't be a lot of "commoners" winning very much at all.

[shaurene]

There is no way possible for Thailand to have legally operated casinos, there is to much corruption and the PM knows this.

What a silly question.

[Crazy chef 1]

should you give a hand granate to a five year old to play with???

[WayneS]

• Gambling is already here on a large scale, prohibition just does not work and never has. History has shown us that banning things helps only the criminal gangs, just look at the US when booze was banned, they built the mafia.

By legalizing a casino the government receives income by way of taxes, a lot of taxes and a large portion from foreign players.

With all this said the Thai government is probably too unstable to attract the multi billion dollar investment from the multi nationals. The worst move they could make is to allow a casino without a huge commitment.

Yes some people cannot help themselves and casinos do cause social problems, but the benefits far out number the problems, problems that are already here.

So should it be banned for all so the money flows underground and to the border casinos, Thailand still has to deal with the problems but does not get one baht of revenue.

[DP25]

Yes, but only tourists should be allowed to gamble. Or Thais that are willing to pay a high membership fee. That is the system used in Singapore, it's designed to extract money from foreign tourists while protecting the local poor from being further exploited and impoverished.

[noikrit]

Yes, but only tourists should be allowed to gamble. Or Thais that are willing to pay a high membership fee. That is the system used in Singapore, it's designed to extract money from foreign tourists while protecting the local poor from being further exploited and impoverished.

I believe Monaco has something similar in the way that the Citizens of Monaco are not permitted in the casino. ...

[zaphod reborn]

Ultimately, gambling should be legalized. At this point in time, it cannot be regulated without rampant corruption. If Thailand were ever to reign in its elected officials, law enforcement agencies and civil service, it would be a boon for the economy. At this juncture, however, legalization would be a huge disaster, resulting in huge transfer of wealth to the corrupt, much of it ending up in foreign countries.

[NickJ]

Singaporeans have to pay 100$ sing to get into there casino......I guess Thais would do the opposite and charge John Q Farang instead...........Casinos might have a positive effect as all the policemen would be busy with there wheelbarrows.

[Lee4Life]

I can't think of a better way to ruin lives than making casinos legal, one of our Lao friends back home lost his job, his wife, his house and then finally took his own life, all because he couldn't beat his gambling addiction. It may have been his own fault, but the fact that there are Indian casinos all over the place and advertisements everywhere didn't help.

There are so many problems surrounding casinos, they are in the middle of all kinds of crime, one of my friends who works in helping the victims of human trafficking told me that human traffickers use them as hubs also.

[Credo]

In theory, they should legalize gambling, but given the endemic levels of corruption, I can't see this as being even remotely feasible. There are simply too many snouts feeding from the trough.

[Jimlove]

Who would ever gamble in a thai Casino - you would never get home alive with your winnings ....

[Colabamumbai]

I voted for yes it would be a good idea in most countries, but the reality is in Thailand they would be run by some Army General and there would be too much corruption.

In Canada a portion of the profits goes right back into the community where the Casino is.

Peterborough Ontario refused a casino. So one was built in Fraserville 7 kilometres away beside the old racetrack. Now the monies go into the Fraserville community and Peterborough realizes that they lost big.

Fraserville is just a gas stop on the highway. Peterborough has 100,000 people.

[quandow]

As superstitious as these folks are, I could just imagine them visiting their monk who tells them they are having a lucky day, then borrowing money against all their assets (truly betting the farm) then blowing it at a casino. If they're having trouble paying a baht 360 minimum wage, then these people don't have the funds to lose.

[digibum]

Who wins by installing casino's? The casino, the maffia and all the corrupt controllers...All the others are losing...

Sigh . . . so easy to just pound out a over-simplistic response based on your moral precepts.

First off, casinos have to have staff. In addition to low paid waitresses, janitors, etc, there are many good and even high paying jobs ranging from dealers to hotel staff to security specialists, to casino management.

That doesn't even include the services the casino would require which would employ even more people.

Thailand's biggest tourism problem is that they can't upgrade without offering something people are willing to pay more for. If they want more baht spent per arrival then they need to offer something on par with what people can get elsewhere and are already paying more for.

If the proposal on the table is for dingy casinos that tourists would never set a foot in, then yes, there's no need for casinos. But if they plan on building casino resorts where people may a higher price for everything, they'll attract more affluent tourists who will spend more money not only in the casino but during their entire stay.

If they do it right and charge a "membership" fee for locals which is too prohibitive for anybody but the upper-scale Thais to afford, I don't really see how this is any more harmful to Thailand than another shopping mall filled with goods that most Thais can't afford.

[h90]

Who wins by installing casino's? The casino, the maffia and all the corrupt controllers...All the others are losing...

that is with illegal casinos.

Legal one state owned: the tax payer wins

[h90]

I can't think of a better way to ruin lives than making casinos legal, one of our Lao friends back home lost his job, his wife, his house and then finally took his own life, all because he couldn't beat his gambling addiction. It may have been his own fault, but the fact that there are Indian casinos all over the place and advertisements everywhere didn't help.

There are so many problems surrounding casinos, they are in the middle of all kinds of crime, one of my friends who works in helping the victims of human trafficking told me that human traffickers use them as hubs also.

gambling is no addiction....

In Europe or in USA casinos are no problem at all. You can make a law that everyone who wants can register in a black list so he/she is not allowed to enter the casino. Very common in Europe.

[digibum]

As superstitious as these folks are, I could just imagine them visiting their monk who tells them they are having a lucky day, then borrowing money against all their assets (truly betting the farm) then blowing it at a casino. If they're having trouble paying a baht 360 minimum wage, then these people don't have the funds to lose.

I guess you think that illegal gambling isn't rampant in Thailand already?

One of the major Thai newspapers had a front page story about bookies during the World Cup. They openly talked about being partners with the police so there was no problem.

And you do realize that online gambling exists, right? That's why many of the major sports books based out of Europe advertise during football matches in Thai, Vietnamese, and other local languages. A few months back, a major bookie based in the Philippines was advertising for Thai language customer support reps. It's not because they do a lot of business with Thai speakers outside of Thailand, I can assure you.

News Flash: Gambling already exists! You can either allow it to be controlled by the underground economy and loan sharks or you can regulate it and put controls in place.

Now, Thailand isn't exactly a shining example of regulation but it's a step in the right direction.

[LuckyNo4]

Who wins by installing casino's? The casino, the maffia and all the corrupt controllers...All the others are losing...

since this present government is eradicating all corruption, the controllers would be clean as a whistle and the mafia non existent so surely the tax's collected would be a benefit to the country and its people. Other countries have casinos why not Thailand?

[digibum]

I can't think of a better way to ruin lives than making casinos legal, one of our Lao friends back home lost his job, his wife, his house and then finally took his own life, all because he couldn't beat his gambling addiction. It may have been his own fault, but the fact that there are Indian casinos all over the place and advertisements everywhere didn't help.

There are so many problems surrounding casinos, they are in the middle of all kinds of crime, one of my friends who works in helping the victims of human trafficking told me that human traffickers use them as hubs also.

gambling is no addiction....

In Europe or in USA casinos are no problem at all. You can make a law that everyone who wants can register in a black list so he/she is not allowed to enter the casino. Very common in Europe.

I'll believe that people are actually concerned about the social impact of gambling when they also advocate for banning all alcohol sales. Alcohol has done more damage - by a very wide margin - than gambling ever has.

But the reality is that a small percentage of people have gambling or alcohol problems so it seems completely unreasonable to ban something that maybe only impacts 5% of people.

[bim]

Yes, but only tourists should be allowed to gamble. Or Thais that are willing to pay a high membership fee. That is the system used in Singapore, it's designed to extract money from foreign tourists while protecting the local poor from being further exploited and impoverished.

I agree.

[digibum]

Who would ever gamble in a thai Casino - you would never get home alive with your winnings ....

Highly doubtful. Once the police, government, locals, see how much more money an average casino-resort tourist is worth vs. a backpacker they'll be providing them police escorts :-)

Seriously, the area around a casino would probably be the safest real estate in Bangkok. Have you ever been to Las Vegas? Cops, security, and cameras are everywhere. As they say, the eye in the sky sees everything.

[digibum]

In theory, they should legalize gambling, but given the endemic levels of corruption, I can't see this as being even remotely feasible. There are simply too many snouts feeding from the trough.

More than in Macau? The Thais have a BA in corruption. The Chinese have PhD's.

My favorite quote (paraphrased) of all time from the mayor of Macau after a tourist had been shot in a drive by and the press asked if it was mafia related: Our mafia is very professional. There is no way they would have shot an innocent bystander. They're better shots than that.

[digibum]

Casinos are designed to do one thing - extract money from fools. The house never loses !

Add in the inherent criminal aspect (corruption and potential money laundering) and the number of high-ranking fingers that would be in the cookie jar, you can pretty much be assured that it wouldn't be well regulated and there wouldn't be a lot of "commoners" winning very much at all.

Go Go bars are designed to do one thing - extract money from fools. The go go never loses.

Fashion shopping malls are designed to do one thing - extract money from fools. The shopping mall never loses.

Car dealerships are designed to do one thing - extract money from fools. The car dealership never loses.

I know this may be hard to believe but no business is in the business of losing. They're all designed to separate customers from their money.

For the vast majority of people, gambling is a form of entertainment. Who are you to say that me sitting at a black jack table for 4 hours and losing a few thousand baht is any better or worse than how you define entertainment?

Far, far more people have caused themselves financial harm via uncontrollable consumer spending than have ruined their lives via gambling. People rack up credit card debt, mortgages, car loans, etc that they can't afford but we don't say that we should stop selling stuff because a small percentage of people can't control their spending.

[Remi080]

Yes, but only tourists should be allowed to gamble. Or Thais that are willing to pay a high membership fee. That is the system used in Singapore, it's designed to extract money from foreign tourists while protecting the local poor from being further exploited and impoverished.

I agree.

Agree to it to.

Besides i think thailand is not ready for this, a newborn goverment, finance unstable, uneducated, and a pour infra structure, are perfect ingredients for a nice bomb to explode in this behind sceduled country.

[VINCENT2012]

thai people allready play a lot at home , on line, or whatever they invented it...casino wont make any diference to them