Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2022年3月 亞博匯 20 COVER STORY A side from the muslim majority nations of Indonesia and Brunei, Thailand is the only ASEAN nation without a legal casino and yet it maintains strong connections to gambling. With a population of almost 70 million, it has been estimated that as much as half of its adult population gambles via illegal means such as sports betting – more than THB160 billion (US$5 billion) is bet on football alone each year – or the many underground casinos that permeate major metropolitan centers. Thailand has long been viewed as an attractive candidate to one day establish a legal casino industry. “There is certainly demand,” explains Vitaly Umansky, Managing Director & Senior Analyst – Global Gaming for asset management firm AB Bernstein. “There are obviously a bunch of gaming customers from Thailand that gamble all over the place. Poipet in Cambodia is a clear example of this, which is almost entirely Thai customers.” But, Umansky asks, is it all hopes and dreams? This is the question currently facing the Thai parliament, which in early December voted to set up an extraordinary committee to examine a proposal to open an integrated resort with a casino, with the goal of attracting more foreign visitation and boosting the local economy. The extraordinary committee is said to comprise 60 members of which 15 are cabinet representatives with the other 45 from various political parties. According to The Bangkok Post , the committee will examine the legal amendments required to legalize casino gaming aswell as the social and economic impact of IRs in other jurisdictions. A report could be complete as early as this month.