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The Thai government has removed a gambler cash asset stipulation from draft integrated resort (IR) legislation that would have blocked entry to all but the wealthiest of Thais.
Two weeks after the Office of the Council of State, the government’s law drafting and advisory body, released an amended draft with a 50m baht ($1.5m) cash asset requirement for local casino gamblers, the finance ministry has removed it in favour of a show of tax return compliance.
The Ministry of Finance “has checked the data and found there are only 10,000 Thai accounts with at least 50 million baht”, the Bangkok Post quoted deputy finance minister Julapun Amornvivat as saying on Monday (March 3).
“So, the former requirement would push people to gamble elsewhere, which could be illegal,” he said.
“This amendment has been agreed on by the ministry and the Council of State.”
The revision to Section 65 of the draft Integrated Entertainment Business Act would now require casino gamblers to present evidence of three years of income tax returns.
Julapun also confirmed that the casino entry fee in the draft is unchanged at 5,000 baht.
The bill has been signed off by the interior minister and can be presented to Cabinet after about two weeks, deputy prime minister and finance minister Pichai Chunhavajira said, although he added that he will review the bill before doing so, the Nation daily reported on Monday.
However, other Cabinet sources suggested the bill would not be immediately placed on the Cabinet agenda.
The speed with which the cash asset provision was removed from the draft points to government backing for an all-access casino industry, and follows criticism from industry observers that the restriction would have left Thailand’s lucrative IR initiative hobbled by a Korean-style segregation of foreigners and locals.
But the restriction would also have undermined the government’s narrative on the need to bring illegal gambling in from the cold and redirect revenue from underground gambling networks and notorious border casinos to government coffers.
Meanwhile, media reports have noted that Sections 61 and 62 of the draft law prohibit casinos from providing online gambling products to users outside the casino.
However, the draft does not impose restrictions on non-IR online gambling, which parts of the government are eager to legalise.
In the interim, the government is feeling more pressure from civic and religious groups and minority political parties across the political spectrum over the prospect of legalising land-based casinos and online gambling.
The monarchist Thai Pakdee Party on Monday led a small demonstration against integrated resorts and online gambling in Bangkok, only the latest in a series of public shows of concern about the industry.
