Senate scheduled to deliberate report on much-criticised ‘casino’ bill
Senate to review report on Paetongtarn government’s withdrawn casino bill, with panel warning legalisation would harm society, security and economy.
The Senate is scheduled on Tuesday to deliberate a report from a special Senate panel on the much-criticised entertainment complex bill introduced by the previous government of former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
However, the schedule was apparently set a long time ago, as the bill has already been withdrawn from the House and the Paetongtarn government has since left office, rendering the legislation technically defunct.
Senate to review lapsed bill
According to the agenda, if the deliberation goes ahead despite the bill’s technically lapse status, the special Senate committee would present the findings of its report for consideration.
The Paetongtarn administration submitted the bill to the House seeking to legalise casinos as part of entertainment complexes, aiming to attract foreign tourists. After heavy criticism, the Cabinet withdrew the bill from the House in early July.
Senate panel opposes casino legalisation
Well-informed sources said the ad hoc Senate committee opposed the bill’s passage, arguing that it would violate the Constitution and its drawbacks would outweigh potential benefits.
The report stated that although the government titled it the “entertainment complex bill,” its primary aim was clearly to legalise casino operations, as evidenced in the annex.
The committee concluded that the bill would harm the country on multiple fronts while failing to contribute to economic growth. Casinos, it argued, would merely transfer money from losers to winners without generating manufacturing or service value.
Potential damage cited
The report outlined several areas of concern:
- Social and health impacts: Gambling addiction would rise, fuelling violence and crime while placing a long-term burden on the public health system.
- Rule of law and security: Casinos could become hubs for money laundering by criminal organisations.
- Constitutional violations: Legalising casinos could breach Article 3, which requires the government to uphold the rule of law for peace and order, and Article 26, which prohibits laws that contradict the rule of law. The bill also allowed the entertainment complex policy committee to amend other laws, giving it excessive power in violation of Article 3.
- Morality and culture: Casino operations were deemed incompatible with Thai moral values.
- International relations: The bill risked drawing criticism of Thailand from the international community.
