BANGKOK – Thailand plans to record and monitor financial transactions of visitors to casinos to deter money laundering, officials said as the government sought to win over opponents of a bill to legalise gambling venues as part of new integrated resorts.
The South-east Asian nation will enforce rules for responsible gaming, including a ban on casino advertisements and denial of entry for individuals deemed to carry “financial risks”, said Mr Suksit Srichomkhwan, Deputy Secretary-General to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
Thailand’s gaming regulations will be modelled on Singapore, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, which limit the number of licences and require mega investments, he told a briefing in Bangkok on June 4. Each entertainment complex in Thailand will require a minimum investment of 100 billion baht (S$3.94 billion), he said.
Ms Paetongtarn’s administration was forced to delay a Bill to legalise casinos earlier in 2025 due to mounting opposition from religious groups, anti-gambling networks and some political parties. The government has pitched it as a way to burnish the appeal of its tourism industry, a key pillar of Thailand’s economy.
If the Bill is passed, it could pave way for Thailand to capture a slice of the growing global gaming market alongside Macau and Singapore, and tap into another potential growth engine to galvanise its sluggish economy. Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International have shown interests in investing in Thai casinos, according to officials.
The so-called entertainment complexes can boost foreign tourist arrivals by 5 per cent to 20 per cent and lift average spending per person per trip by about 22,000 baht, Mr Suksit said. But the critics of the casino plan have argued the gaming venues will fuel gambling addiction and benefit big businesses and foreign companies, besides them turning into avenues for money laundering.
“Money laundering will be almost impossible in these premises” due to stringent surveillance, he said. “Even the operators want to compete in a strictly regulated environment.”
The draft legislation proposes that casinos take up only 10 per cent of the spaces within each integrated entertainment complex, which will be required to house at least four other types of businesses. It also moots stringent entry requirements for Thai citizens, including proof that they have 50 million baht in bank deposits.
The government is not in a hurry to push through the Bill as it is committed to ensuring the legislation is “clean and clear”, Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat said. The entertainment complexes can be a new engine to drive growth amid rising geopolitical challenges, he said, adding that the aim is to pass the Bill during the remainder of the government’s two-year tenure. Bloomberg
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