Thailand government has been planning to legalize the casino in order to fight the corona virus generated financial crunch.
However, the plans of the government have been met with strong opposition from the Stop Gambling Foundation (SGF). The foundation stated that legalization of gambling is not going to stop illegal gambling. Further, it is going to cause more serious social problems.
Secretary for Stop Gambling Foundation (SGF), Thanakorn Komkris stated: “Legalising gambling is not straightforward. Legal casinos need rigorous standards and require supervision and regulation. When a gambling den is brought in line with such standards, some people will be denied access. As a result, they will return to illegal venues. Thailand might end up having both legal and illegal gambling dens, which would be worse than now”, as reported by Gambling Insider.
Komkris invited the govt. to weigh pros and cons of the issue and consider family problems that might arise if gambling is legalized.
However, several other such as, Sanyakorn Singhaweratham, deputy spokesman of the Kla Party, stated that social impacts of the gambling will be minimized but did not state out specific modalities for doing so. He maintained that taxation benefits from the industry will be huge as over $1.3 billion) flows out of Thailand to foreign casinos each year. Hence, regulating and legalizing casinos in the country would help retain that money.