Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAR 2022年3月 亞博匯 32 people love coming to Thailand, so that’s huge. You’ve also got a lot of Thai people who go to Singapore, Macau, Europe, America and Australia to gamble. So there is a market there for sure, supplemented by a huge Chinese market.” Based on the feasibility study referenced previously, legalized casinos if open to all would attract an estimated 55/45 split of international visitors versus locals. Outside of Bangkok and Phuket, Pattaya is also mentioned as an obvious location. It was here that authorities had proposed opening an IR back in 2002 on the site of the Imperial Pattaya Hotel in Chon Buri. “It makes even more sense today because it’s only an hour from the international airport, it's got all the tourist and visitor infrastructure and they are building a high-speed train to A police raid on an illegal casino in Thailand. 泰國警方突襲一家非法賭場。 COVER STORY Bangkok, so it actually meets many criteria,” the source said. On the downside, a Pattaya integrated resort would almost certainly kill off the casino industry in Poipet, which would undoubtedly stir up rapid opposition from powerful people in the Cambodian border town. Similar issues would likely face any such development in Bangkok, where theunderground casinos are controlled, some say, “at a very, very high level.”