According to local media, Thailand’s casino draft law contains provisions that could prohibit operators from providing any form of remote gaming to customers outside of the casino.
The State Council has completed its review of the amended Entertainment Complex Bill. Soon after, the Bangkok Post highlighted several key provisions of the bill, which will be considered by the cabinet on March 11.
Particular attention was paid to Sections 61 and 62, which state that “online gambling and live streaming of gambling from casinos to prevent people outside the casino from participating are prohibited.” Such a restriction would prohibit any form of remote gaming via live streaming to customers, as is common in the Philippines. Proxy betting, where remote players place their bets over the phone through someone on the premises, would likely be banned.
At the same time, it was reported that an amendment to Section 65 that would force Thai citizens to have at least 50 million Thai baht (US$1.5 million) in their bank accounts to enter the country’s casinos could be scrapped. The measure was intended to restrict access to only those with significant financial means.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornwiwat recently said it would instead drive less affluent locals back to illegal gambling. And Genting Singapore, the operator of Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa, told analysts it would be difficult to commit to high capital expenditure on IR if the market size were to shrink to mostly foreign visitors.
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