It's not time for Thailand to take a gamble

Oct 3, 2011
Bangkok Post

If you happen to be in front of Lumphini Park early in the morning around 5am, you can't help but see the convoy of buses lining up on both sides of Rama IV road. The line of the privately run coaches are longer on weekends.

Some go to the Aranyaprathet district border in Sa Kaeo; others leave for Laem Ngob district in Trat. All passengers are gamblers who are accommodated by the bus service to transport them to casinos in Cambodia right opposite Thailand in those two provinces.

The buses are there to service those who go there _ those who hope they'll be rich when they come back. Not everybody is lucky for sure. Some alight the bus with smiles on their face, others look desperate on the return trip. You win some and you lose even more. That's gambling.

The decision to build those casinos right at the border opposite Chanthaburi, Sa Kaeo, Surin and Trat is obvious _ they are there to entice Thai gamblers.

And thus far, Cambodia's plan has worked very well, even during the times of border problems.

Back in 2000, then-prime minister Chuan Leekpai urged his compatriots not to cross the border at Aranyaprathet for gambling there to show their opposition to the construction of a casino project in Poipet which could damage the boundary of the two countries. Thai gamblers simply turned a deaf ear, shrugged off his call and did their business as usual as if nothing had happened there.

The idea to build casinos in Thailand never dies down. Looking at the Thais flocking to the Cambodian border, advocates of the idea believe that having one in Thailand will keep the money in the country and save them spending the time travelling to the border.

Could a casino in Thailand lure gamblers from other countries to come here?

Look at the success of this business in Malaysia, Singapore and Macau.

Government Lottery Office director Wanchai Surakul is the latest official trying to revive this idea.

He eyes the Thung Kula Ronghi plateau in the Northeast as a possible location for the "entertainment complex".

It's not the first time that this idea has popped up.

Back in 2005, the tourism and sports minister at the time, Pracha Maleenont, did the same when he was with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He favoured it to be constructed in tourism prime spots such as Phuket or Pattaya.

The result was predictable.

It went nowhere.

Mr Wanchai's idea is even worse given that he projects to turn farmland famous for producing Hom Mali rice into a gambling den.

But Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra apparently has shown a tepid reaction to it. She has not killed it off, only saying that it is not a priority of the government.

It comes to the point that whether Thailand should follow the footsteps of its neighbours by having casinos.

The answer is yes. It's not because Thais are avid gamblers.

Malaysians, Singaporeans and other countries are too.

It's not because legalising gambling will eventually shut down those dens opened in several places in Bangkok and other provinces.

It's simply a revenue-generating business. The problem is the rule and law enforcement if the idea can survive furious opposition. In Singapore, those entering the casinos must be over 20 years old and have to pay an entry levy as part of the measures to deter low-income citizens.

Here in Thailand, the country has a problem on law enforcement. All nightclubs, bars and the like do not welcome those without an ID, according to law. But in reality, the bouncers intentionally ignore those rules and regulations and simply let youngsters in by bribing police to turn a blind eye on their places.

Community radio stations are another example. Their signals disturb mainstream stations as operators do not care about the regulation to broadcast only within a three-kilometre radius.

Listeners have complained about the problem to authorities but so far it remains untackled.

History has shown that it is not pessimistic to think that once a casino has been opened, rules and regulations will be ignored.

Until the government can make sure that enforcement is real, don't ever think about having casinos in the country. To show that to the public, let authorities start by solving problems on underage drinking in nightclubs and the disturbance of the community radios.