Two senior Democrats say casino entertainment complex not worth the trouble
Two deputy Democrat Party leaders on Sunday warned that the harm caused to the country by the government’s ambitious project to build an integrated entertainment complex with a casino would far exceed the value of the economic boost it would provide.
Suchatvee Suwansawat and Chaichana Dechdecho were commenting on the proposed state-run integrated entertainment complex, incorporating a casino, after the House of Representatives unanimously approved a study on the project.
On Thursday, the House voted 253 in support of the study conducted by a House committee headed by Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat.
According to the feasibility study of the House panel, the project would include a department store, a five-star hotel, restaurants, meeting halls, heath centres, a sports stadium, yacht clubs, game arcades, water parkers, amusement parks, and a Thai culture and One Tambon One Product promotion zone apart from a casino.
Last week, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin also expressed support for the project to build an entertainment project with a casino.
Suchatvee said the government should have conducted a more comprehensive study on the pros and cons of the project and should listen to opinions from all groups before the prime minister announced support for such a controversial project.
Suchatvee said there can be no guarantee that the opening of a casino in the country would lead to closure of online gambling websites.
“Thailand is not a place for trial and error. Such an experiment could spoil our children,” Suchatvee warned.
He said several countries that had allowed casinos to operate legally were beset with problems of grey money and corruption and such casinos could not boost the economy as expected.
He said a legal casino would not be able to allow the government to receive tax from underground gambling. He said other countries, such as Singapore and the United States, had to face social and crime issues instead of economic growth.
Suchatvee said Thailand already has popular tourist destinations and good culture, which should be promoted, without the need for a casino to draw tourists.
Chaichana said instead of opening a casino, the government should legalise traditional games and earn concession fees from them without having to open a casino.
For example, Chaichana said, Thais like to gamble on bull-fighting, cock-fighting and dice games in funerals.
He said the organiser of a funeral may be allowed to seek a permit from the Interior Ministry to operate three dice games per night for a 500-baht fee each and the government would earn 1,500 baht from each funeral per night.
The government should also allow the people to legally gamble on results of "bung fai" or traditional Isaan bamboo rocket contests and other traditional games, Chaichana added.
He said the government would reap huge sums from concession fees from these traditional games in no time whereas the building and operating of a casino entertainment complex could take years.
He said the government should also compare tax collections in other countries where casinos are operating legally to see whether their tax collections got a boost. He said he had learned that the tax collections in Singapore, Philippines and Malaysia had dropped.
He also doubted whether the government would be able to find a suitable investor for the 300-billion-baht project.
