By Christopher Cottrell in Bangkok
A second alternative bill for Thailand’s casino liberalisation, focusing on “Entertainment Complexes,” was announced today at the inaugural Thai Entertainment Complex Summit by Thai list-MP for the People’s Party, Chulapong Yukate.
Yukate stated that on 12 December he will submit this bill to the Thai National Assembly for consideration, with readings and responses scheduled. A final decision is expected by 12 April 2025.
Should the bill receive approval, it will need to pass a 180-day waiting period before being published in the government gazette.
While there are no specific numbers of licenses of potential number of sites in the previous bill pushed forward earlier this year— even though five have been rumored for Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and somewhere in the Eastern Economic Corridor if not Pattaya itself — the key for Yukate is the business structure.
In defining an effective Entertainment Complex, Yukate said one should think of a Thai shopping mall, “with five to 10 percent of its area [about 2,000 acres] of its area for a casino.”
He said the malls could be owned by anyone and if the owner has no experience managing a casino, that should be sub-contracted out to a casino management entity.
He also noted that Thailand’s telecom management example provides a legal context for foreign investors to have greater investments beyond the usual local 51 per cent to foreign 49 per cent structure, without limitations of percentage of shares for foreign owners.
His bill proposes a model where the EC has shopping, hotels, restaurants and bars, possibly a sports stadium, and casino. In the eight chapters of law lined up in the bill, the sitting Prime Minister must chair the EC Policy Committee with 15 others.
Current law for illegal gambling of prison would not change, but those who violate casino law would be fined Baht 500,000 (US $14,556), and a fund should be established to help those with problem gambling habits.
Yukate added, “We really need international investment…the law does not require a local director [for the EC]. Any nationality can be a director.”
This news had conference attendees on the edge of their seats. Especially the veteran Macau and Asia set-up consultants present for the event. The major operators were not present, keeping their public faces quiet in this tense moment of the legal set up stages.
Organized by Rosalind Wade, CEO of Winna Media, the two-day conference began with a speech by conference Chairperson Niall Murray, Founder and Chairman of Murray International Group.
Murray, a veteran who was part of laying down the early foundations of modern gaming ecosystem in Macau with the Sands Hotel & Casino and MGM China, commented that he is “confident that the [gaming] market will explode in Thailand and become second to Macau in a few short years.”
Other notable Macau insiders on day one of the conference with Athony Lawrance, Managing Director of Intelligence Macau, in conversation with Vitaly Umansky, Senior Analyst at Seaport Research Partners, who spoke about the history of best practice in gaming set-up lessons in Macau and Singapore.
It also saw a panel about customer demographics moderated by Muhammed Cohen, Asia Editor At Large for iGaming Business, featuring Ben Lee, Managing Partner of iGamix Management & Consulting, Jeffrey Kiang, Equity Research Analyst at CLSA, and Trevor Lee & Lilly Choi, Co-founders of TravConsult.
Bolormaa Ganbold Murray, Director at Murray International examined hospitality trends and future outlooks for Thailand, with afternoon models of comparison for Thailand from Asia with a panel moderated by Harmen Brenninkmeijer, Chairman & Managing Partner of NYCE International, featuring Khim Oudam, Deputy Director of Licensing at the Commercial Gambling Commission of Cambodia, Michael Soll, President of the Innovation Group, and Benjamin Hirasawa, Founding Director of BG21.
Linda Woo, former Executive Director of the Office of Regulatory Policy in the Queensland, Australia Department of Justice and Attorney General and current specialist consultant for Gambling & Consumer Protection, delineated best practices for implementing robust social safeguard frameworks for gambling.
The day closed with a panel on tailoring soft power entertainment moderated by Philip Beere, Editor-in-Chief of Thai Casino Insider, featuring John Raczka, of Autumn Light Entertainment, Shaun McCamley, Founder & Managing Partner, Euro Asia Pacific Consulting, and Calvin Shueh, Founder & CEO of Mahjong Masters.
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