Opening casinos in Thailand has been given the green light after the Cabinet acknowledged the report. Special committee considers study of opening full-service entertainment venues (Entertainment Complex) and assigned to The “Ministry of Finance” accepted the matter and studied the feasibility and presented it within 30 days. This caused more than 99 names of professors and academics to join in protesting and expressing concern and suggesting opinions to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on this matter. leading to academic discussions “Is it time for casinos in Thailand? Looking at the present, dreaming about the future” organized by the Gambling Problem Study Center Anti-Corruption Foundation and Faculty of Law Rangsit University, Asst. Prof. Dr. Chidtawan Chanakul, Faculty of Economics Kasetsart University said that it is not yet time for Thailand to have casinos because they have studied abroad, whether in the United States, Europe, or Asia. “Casinos” may make the economy improve in a short period of time. But it has nothing to do with long-term economic growth. The study also found that Although “good law enforcement countries,” legal casinos contribute to high crime rates in Denmark, Germany, Finland, and Asia, and also lead to greater economic inequality. A recent study in Thailand found that “People receive assistance from the government,” whether it be a living allowance for the elderly or a allowance for the disabled, “who are vulnerable groups,” but use the money to spend on gambling until the loss is a problem that aggravates poverty in the country. especially the northern region and northeastern region that receives the highest assistance if “Setting up legal casinos” tends to be a vulnerable group of 15 million people, or 20% of the population, who will come to gamble in large numbers. This will affect labor productivity in the system. It has become even more detrimental to the country’s economic growth. The “Special Committee” is compared with Singapore as a model, which is incorrect because in 2005, when “Singapore” casinos began, the country had a high growth rate. “The population has good quality.” The vulnerable group that receives government assistance is only 12,000 people, or 2% of the population. Plus, they have a reputation for law enforcement being number 1 in the world with a score of 9.0, making them focus on creating society to have quality, attract tourists and have economic power, if compared to “Thailand” there are 15 million vulnerable groups and a law enforcement score of 5.5, plus the tourism context in the eyes of the world sees “Thailand” in the direction related with sex tourism or service sales business This reflects the social, economic, and law enforcement context. and the quality of the people is different, so if “There are legal casinos” and there will be complete services including women, gambling, liquor, and in the end, what kind of tourists we will attract must be a matter for the government to be aware of. And give that importance to the next point. “Social Impact Study” This matter has never been seriously studied in Thailand. But when previously surveyed students who liked to gamble, many responded that they disagreed. Because everyone knows “Gambling is bad. If you’re addicted, you can’t stop.” Therefore, whenever gambling becomes legal, it will cause social righteousness, the consequences are “Children and youths” will have normal attitudes. “For this reason, if bad things can be secreted, they should be secreted.” Therefore, making casinos a legal activity affects both people who play and people who don’t play. Therefore, it is believed that “MPs who love the land and the people” before doing activities have an impact on the people. Society should hold a referendum and listen to the opinions of the people. Finally, “Thailand” should not yet have the time to legalize casinos like “Hawaii” which is a land of many people who dream of traveling to this place. “Gambling of any kind is illegal,” which stems from the ideals of a former Hawaiian leader from 50 years ago who would not allow gambling that would destroy the resources and good culture of Hawaii because gambling often attracts tourists. “Hawaiian people don’t want it,” it will bring in tourists and destroy culture, traditions, and natural resources. Therefore, at present, “Hawaiian people” still adhere to their stance of not wanting any kind of gambling. Even though in recent times there have been attempts by new generations of politicians to push for legalization of gambling, they have always been opposed. “For this reason, the main duty of the government is not to Casino is a legal activity. But the limited budget must be used to develop human resources that are a key factor in transforming Thailand into a high-income country, which is the only way to develop the country. But it doesn’t make people addicted to gambling,” Assistant Professor Dr. Chidtawan said, just like Associate Professor Dr. Nuannoi Treerat, Director of the Gambling Problem Study Center Faculty of Economics Chulalongkorn University says that when it comes to legal casinos, success requires good planning. Otherwise, there will be many impacts on society as has been seen in many countries, even though the results of the report The “Special Committee” came out somewhat better than the previous version. “But the results of the study are still few” and in an atmosphere where everyone said that the results of this study passed. Being able to open casinos is a dangerous situation. For example, “Japan” has been talking about studying casinos for 10 years and still studying for many more years before being able to open them. “The principle is to plan step by step.” This is not the case that the study is completed this year and next year it can be done immediately. When this is the case, I strongly agree that “It is time to study the opening of casinos in the country,” but it is not time to open legal casinos now. “With Thailand, there are many unpreparednesses evident.” Observed in the report of the Special Committee, when I personally sat and read it carefully, I found that two words were used interchangeably throughout, such as the word “full service establishments and casinos” and try to demonstrate the economic benefits and employment of 20,000 people, “but the core of the integrated service center does not have any detailed operational plans.” One lucky thing in this report admits that Another “social impact” that may occur after having a casino is “Bringing up a lot of the Singaporean model” and claiming success under the word “casino” but not mentioning the success in generating that money because “casino” is only a part of the integrated service facility. Actually, “casino” ” In terms of success and prosperity, “Las Vegas” is often referred to as a foreign city in America. “People in countries outside the area often come to play” and bring problems back home. This has made the image of Las Vegas grow and there have been other studies in the case of “many countries” where the Las Vegas model has been used. It appears that “Many surrounding businesses have all gone bankrupt” because people used their money to spend in casinos until it ended up in the hands of capitalists. “Not having money to spend” has become a poverty problem. And many crimes followed as well. “African countries” that hope for economic prosperity open casinos starting at sizes S, M, L, resulting in many social problems. “A committee must be set up” to consider closing down casinos later. Even though it was closed, the problem of gambling addicts was not treated, resulting in them struggling to find ways to gamble like before. So let’s look back. The “Report on the Study of Casino Opening in Thailand” is quite sympathetic to those who made the figure that only 20% of foreign tourists will come and the other 80% will be people from within the country who will come to gamble in the casinos. But in terms of the impact problem, there is no numerical assessment. Makes it impossible to measure the good and bad effects of having a casino…? And every 2 years we will have a survey of gambling problems. Most recently in 2023, it appeared that people had problems with the effects of gambling. And gambling addiction is about 20%. If you look only at casino visitors, the number rises to 30%. While casino taxes can be collected at 10-15%, then the tax money must be used to take care of more than 30% of gambling addicts. No one talks about these things. Even this report is “Hoping to develop the country’s economy” by pushing for the legalization of vice businesses that may change society and cause crime problems. And the number of patients suffering from gambling addiction has increased more than ever before…Click to read more about the “Scoop Page 1” column.
