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According to local media reports citing people close to the matter, the future of the Entertainment Complex Bill, a draft piece of legislation that was approved in principle on January 13, is now going to be further debated by the Council of State.
Thai Legal Watchdog Will Debate Casino Resorts for 50 Days
The Council of State is an advisory body tasked with reviewing and offering input on pending laws, which will now have 50 days to examine the proposed law. The matter is given urgency and priority over other outstanding reviews, with the Council of State expected to deliver an opinion that could help pave the way forward for the project.
The proposed Las Vegas-style casino resorts (referred to as entertainment complexes locally) are meant to be used as a way to boost local tourism, clamp down on illegal gambling, and otherwise prop up ailing finances.
The Council of State though operates independently from the government and cabinet and often does not see eye-to-eye with lawmakers, serving as an important custodian of the country’s legislative framework.
The Council of State has already expressed concerns according to reports by The Nation and the Bangkok Post, two local media outlets that have been following and covering the story meticulously.
The opposition though is not so much to the idea of hosting an entertainment complex, but rather to ill-defined language as to what may constitute such a complex in the first place.
Another issue that the council has brought up is that the present law offers little information as to how illegal gambling would be addressed in the country, which should be part of any gambling expansion regulation one way or another.
Thailand’s Finance Ministry has said that it estimates the legalization of such resorts to bring up to $13.7 billion in extra tourism revenue annually, making it a huge economic priority for the country to pull through.
Thailand Expects Casino Resorts to Have a Huge Impact on Local Economy
Apart from their operations, the casinos will also create additional economic value through their direct and indirect impact on the supply chains. Any new casino resort may also require an investment of up to $3 billion based on current exchange rates.
Thailand is also worried about the arrival of an expanded gambling framework bringing in more criminal operators and syndicates keen to exploit weaknesses in regulation. In the meantime, should licenses arrive, they will be issued for 30 years, with renewal options for an extra 10 years after that.
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