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Thailand has released draft control legislation for integrated resorts that includes potential 40-year licences and a maximum fee schedule, but also promises tight Cabinet control on policy and administration and a ban on casino internet gambling.
Released by the Council of State on Saturday (August 4) for until August 18, the focuses on bureaucratic structures and processes and suspends details on most industry concerns until after the draft is passed.
However, the 22-page Thai-language draft provides a few key licence metrics, including 30-year licences for resort operators, with a maximum licence extension of ten years. Operators would undergo “efficiency” reviews every five years.
Licensees would be Thai-registered companies and have paid-up capital of 10bn baht ($282m), and would be compelled to operate at least four entertainment attractions in addition to a casino out of several options in a draft appendix.
These options include a department store, a hotel, a restaurant, a bar or club, sports facilities, a water park, an amusement park, and Thai culture and produce promotion.
The draft also sets out licence application fees and annual licence and renewal fees, although the fine print makes it clear these are maximum numbers and could be revised lower in practice.
Licence applications are capped at 100,000 baht, with first-year licences and renewed licences capped at 5bn baht ($141m), and all other annual fees at 1bn baht.
However, consistent with the Thai government and public hostility toward online gambling, the draft also bans operators from setting up Philippine-style remote operations out of their casinos.
“The licensee is prohibited from providing gambling or betting through connecting a computer system or other electronic devices to the Internet network to allow people outside the casino establishment to enter or gamble,” Section 53 of the draft states.
Gamblers would need to be at least 20 years old, and operators would be required to bar gamblers named by the regulator as a “prohibited person”, or those with “the characteristics of a prohibited person”.
Casino entry fees for Thai nationals would be capped at 5,000 baht ($140) per visit. No minimum entry fee has been specified at this time.
The bulk of the draft law establishes the casino regulator, translatable as the Office of the Supervision of Integrated Entertainment Venues, and policy and executive committees overseeing the office that are controlled by the Thai Prime Minister and stacked with Cabinet officials.
Notable details for the Bangkok-based regulator include a maximum of two terms of four years for its secretary-general, options for regulator branches in locations where casinos operate, and search and seizure powers for regulatory inspectors.
The policy committee is chaired and deputy-chaired by the Prime Minister and deputy prime minister, respectively, joined by six Cabinet ministers, the Royal Police commissioner, secretaries-general of the anti-money laundering and investment agencies, and up to six, single-term specialist appointees with industry, economic, legal or other associated “knowledge and expertise”.
All of the specialist appointees must be Thai nationals.
The committee has broad authority to set policy on integrated resort management, the proportion of casino floor space, negative socio-economic impacts, the number and location of licences, tax rates and entry fees, licence application criteria and punishment, credit regulations, company particulars including staff changes and structure, as well as generating amendments to the law.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister-chaired executive committee would include permanent secretaries of seven ministries, police, secretaries-general of the anti-money laundering, anti-narcotics and criminal investigations agencies, and another three specialist appointees.
The executive committee would provide administrative support to the regulator and exercise authority over gambling advertising and promotions, fee criteria and collection, customer complaints, and many other areas.
The draft does not favour locations for, or impose a total number of, integrated resorts.
The draft also does not include official English terminology for laws, regulations or proposed agencies, resulting in inconsistent media translations of the draft law, the proposed regulator and other titles.
The Thai parliament overwhelmingly approved committee support for integrated resorts in March, prompting Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in June to order the finance ministry to produce the draft law after taking into account submissions by at least 16 government agencies, reflecting the sensitivity of the process.
If the legislation passes, Thailand will be the last substantial land-based casino market to open in East and Southeast Asia in the foreseeable future, following difficult tender processes in Japan and South Korea.
US operators Las Vegas Sands and MGM, Malaysian operator Genting Group, and Macau operator Galaxy Entertainment Group are among companies that have expressed interest in the Thai market, which CLSA analysts have forecast would reach $15bn annually, surpassing Singapore and the Philippines, and second only to Macau.
