Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are asking the question, are foreigners dictating terms to Thailand regarding gambling? Because that's what it certainly looks like to me. I am pretty upset on this issue. I recently read an article from the Bangkok Post - which was apparently also by Reuters - and frankly the whole thing just made my blood boil. I wanted to pull my hair out. I mean it's just ridiculous, foreigners coming in here and trying to tell Thailand how to do things. This is a sovereign nation. If the British Empire at her height, and the French Empire, whatever the hell they were because I wouldn't call it a height when they were out in the world. They used to say the British would find something valuable and then form a colony. The French would form colonies and then go looking for valuable stuff. So, whatever you want to say about the “height” of the French Empire, Thailand has had to sit in between okay. Thailand has had to listen to the harping of foreigners for decades, if not centuries. Me personally as a newly sort of forged Thai if you will, I personally don't like it at all and I think it's completely wrong and I'm sick and tired of outsiders trying to come in here and tell Thailand how to do things. Meanwhile, I especially find it galling to listen to foreigners who are trying to get a concession out of Thailand telling Thailand how Thailand should be doing things. Who the hell do you think you are? Do you think you get to go to the United States and go into Las Vegas and be like “you need to change your zoning regulations”, “you need to do this, you need to do that, we want to see some “true competition”. “Hey American get rid of SFIUS”, S-F-I-U-S, which is the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States, “hey we are a gambling company. If we come into America, we want you to get rid of SFIUS!” That's the same nonsense that is being pushed on Thailand.

Quoting directly from a recent article in the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Thailand's big Casino gamble hangs on fine print. No, Thailand's big Casino gamble hangs on Thai Parliament; it hangs on the Thais deciding what the Thais want to do for Thailand, and what is good for themselves. That is called the national interest. There was a time when men like George Keenan strode the Earth that we actually knew what that was and cared about it and knew that it mattered and knew that you don't let foreigners be coming into your own house, telling you how things are going to work. Quoting directly: "Thailand is setting its sights on becoming a global gaming hub, with plans to build a casino industry that generates billions in revenue," - out of the gate that's not correct. Thailand has not promulgated new legislation, so Thailand has not made a decision to do much of anything yet. Thailand is deliberating the issue of gambling here in Thailand and I do not like that foreigners keep coming in here and pushing these narratives in such a way as to cajole and prod Thai Parliament to do certain things. Report the news accurately. I am sick of this. Quoting further: "..draws some of the biggest names in the business and benefits a thriving tourism sector. But experts" - oh "experts", Oh those experts! - "..warn success will come only by playing its cards right on regulation, an area in which.." - again I love the way this is framed. The only way Thailand is going to do well, is do things the way we say. Quoting further: "..an area in which Southeast Asia's second largest economy has a patchy record," - says who? compared to what? Are you kidding me? Have you seen the regulations of the United States and the way our system works? I mean one opinion overthrew the Chevron deference. Overnight everything changed. But you constantly give hell to Thailand the way this system works, when our system can be just as arbitrary and capricious or the Western systems most assuredly can be. Quoting further: "..such as its botched efforts to legalize Cannabis in 2022." I made a video contemporaneously with this one where we talked about that line specifically. But long story short, effective legalization of cannabis was not botched, okay? Anutin, then the Minister of Public Health used a very creative methodology of getting it legalized but it's legal now and it's actually turning out to work. That said, quoting further: Quote: "They want a transparent process that will protect their investment with appropriate regulation," said Frederic Gushin of Spectrum Gaming Group. So here's your expert. A guy who I am pretty sure hasn't been in Thailand or if he has, he has never lived here. So guy who knows nothing about how Thailand works in terms of the law or regulation, and more importantly not a Thai. Some foreigner with some opinion on how we should do things, and his opinion is "a transparent" - so they are saying Thailand is too opaque, too murky the way you do things. We want you to change the way that we apply for a concession from you. That is what they are saying, - "..that will protect their investment with appropriate regulation." So now we want to have influence on what legislation gets passed here in Thailand - "..which helped Singapore builds its Casino Industry into the world's third largest after Macau and Las Vegas. Well being third to Macau and Las Vegas, that's kind of like being the smartest kid with Down Syndrome okay. I mean those are powerhouses. Nobody sits around going, "hey we got to get on a plane and get down to Singapore”. What happens in Singapore stays in Singapore. The giant prison colony that basically looks like a mall. What a joke! Quoting further: "This is a once in a generation opportunity," - oh okay music man, we have got to get on board because it rhymes with P and that stands for Pool. Quoting further: "In some estimates, Thailand has the potential to eclipse Singapore's glitzy Casinos." Are you kidding me? That has nothing to do with the gaming industry. People are going to come to Thailand no matter what. We don't have legal gambling right now and we are pulling in more people before the gambling, just because they will come for the beaches and stuff and stay for the gambling. Yet we know we'll beat Singapore for gambling, that's not hard. Quoting further: "..in part by luring heavy hitters such as Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Resorts International and Galaxy Entertainment." So let's be clear. The solution, the way that this all works amazing and we're all going to do good is to let in foreign corporations and they will dictate as to the transparency of the concession process, and they will dictate as to how the regulations "ought to be" but I love how the big solution in this whole article, "bring in a bunch of foreign outfits, that's going to be what helps!" 

Look, I can actually see a scenario where like foreign management companies can be very useful in the gaming space. I remember actually working for the Prairie Band Potawatomi of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, I remember working at their Casino when it was managed by Harris. It could be a very beneficial relationship. I can see a situation like that here but guess what? Harris wasn't dictating to the tribe how things is going to work. When you are out on the Res., it works the way the tribe says it works out on the Res. Well guess what? This is Thailand and in Thailand the Thais tell you how things are going to work in Thailand. So I ain't interested in a bunch of outsiders coming in here, putting pressure on the Thais and telling them how things are going to be. We tell you how it works in Thailand, you don't tell us how it works in Thailand. Quoting further: "None of the companies responded to emails from Reuters seeking comment." So what are you talking about? You just got done in this article saying this is the solution, and then the very people that you say are the solution, didn't comment. So what do you call it? Speculation? Quoting further: "To draw big names or the big names," - by the way maybe there's some Thai big names you have never heard of.  Might not be The big names - "Thai authorities will have to combat receptions of favouring big domestic players," - I don't want them combating those perceptions, I want them to take care of big Domestic players. I don't care how big they are. If gambling is coming to Thailand, Thais need to benefit from it; Thai companies need to benefit from it. Foreigners don't need to be coming in here to tell us how it's going to work to begin with and then gain all the benefit on the back end. What kind of nonsense is that? Quoting further: "..adopt an open and competitive development process," - means make it more easier for us - quoting further: "..and strike a delicate balancing act with domestic punters, two Consultants said." I would love to see these people. Two guys who what? Never been here or set foot here once and were farting hot dogs into a bar stool somewhere and now they are qualified to tell us how gambling should work here. Come on! Come on! 

Meanwhile, this whole thing of competing, quoting directly: "it says combat perceptions favouring big domestic players," - well I want them to favour domestic players, - "adopt an open and competitive development process" - as what? As Thais? You expect equal treatment as Thais here? Honestly. The hubris in all of this is just overwhelming. Quoting further: "Last month the Cabinet approved a draft law to legalize gambling and so-called entertainment complexes as a way of boosting the economy at a time the gross domestic product is expected to expand less than 2.9% this year." First of all, less than 2.9%! Oh my God, ring the bells we have terrible problems here. Look we are growing, we are okay. Thailand is an aging country. Again, I'm sick and tired of this constant push in the media that, "oh the economy is terrible; therefore we have to upend everything we have ever done". I'm not against gambling but it is something that has to be very, very, very carefully analyzed because the negative impacts from gambling can far outweigh the positive benefits if it's not correctly implemented. And you know what's not going to correctly implement it? A bunch of foreign multinational corporations coming over to Thailand and breathing down on our neck and telling us that we are somehow not sovereign and that our national interests don't matter in this particular instance. Well guess what? They matter a lot; they matter more than anything frankly in this analysis, because if we screw up gambling in Thailand, we could really hurt the country. So I am not really very interested in listening to the machinations and the opinions of a bunch of outsiders who seem to only be concerned with getting "fair competition" which means having things tilted toward them, not having things be favoured toward “domestic” players which is what Thailand should be doing at all times, maintaining the national interest here. 

That said, quoting further: "..lower than previous estimates. Reuters has reviewed the latest draft legislation, not yet made public," - so oh Reuters, the former intelligence service for the Rothschild Banking Family is coming to Thailand and gotten to see draft legislation that will impact all of us here in Thailand, will also have an impact on major multinational corporations who are trying to have "less domestic input" in terms of the actual negotiations associated with this. What could possibly go wrong by letting all these insiders have the inside track within the decision curve regarding our legislation here in Thailand? How is that right? Quoting further: "Which envisages a new Commission to regulate gaming and coordinate with investors in setting up such complexes." Well if you're going to be setting that stuff up, why don't you give public oversight? Why does only Reuters get to see that legislation? Quoting further: Quote: "We estimate Thailand's gross gaming revenue could reach US$9.1 billion when fully ramped," Citi said. So Citibank is now, Citibank. By the way, anytime you ever hear there's a bank that has the word Citi in it, the city they are referring to is the City of London, the so-called square mile in the UK. That said, quoting further: "This will rank Thailand ahead of Singapore." Well, guess what? Thailand is already ranked ahead of Singapore in my book and in any Thai's book as well. Stop trying to make this some competition between us and Singapore. Thailand isn't Singapore and Singapore isn't Thailand. I hate that when they keep talking about that in terms of Bangkok here where they are saying, “oh we are looking at Singapore as an example”. Why? Everything about Thailand is unique and it's uniquely Thai. It's amazing. That's what makes it amazing is that it is Thai. We don't need to mimic these foreigners. Quoting further: "The Government, led by the Pheu Thai Party hopes its plan will attract at least 100 billion baht in new investment." Oh wow, the core coalition party that has come up with so many bang up ideas in the past year and a half, like putting Chinese Police on our streets, or a digital wallet that will allow them to track and trace all of our financial transactions, and put us into a bunch of debt for so-called "magic bean" money that we can't use everywhere and we can only use in certain places and they can turn on and off, and they can turn it off over time, but we were all going to go into debt for all of that great privilege, nationally. Yeah the people that brought you that, are bringing foreigners, telling us how we should run gambling in our own country. Quoting further: "..for an annual boost to foreign arrivals by 5% to 10%" – cut the nonsense, okay? People are not going to come to Thailand solely because they can gamble okay. People come to Thailand independently because they like coming to Thailand. Now you could argue and I think there's a good argument to make that legalizing Cannabis probably did bring in a bunch of new people because there were people that just that not being legal and then that legalizing brought them in. I'm not seeing that same thing with gambling. Look, I've seen this firsthand. Kansas as the late William Allen White once said, would always go dry as long as they can stagger to the poles and the reason they would say that was because Kansas would always vote for prohibition even though it was completely not in their interest or in the interest of the citizenry, okay. We saw this with gambling too. Kansas waited till the exact last minute before it finally legalized gambling and then when it did, it didn't do anything. We got all of the bad and none of the good because it didn't draw in anybody new because gambling was already legal in other jurisdictions. And at the end of the day, the people that it drew in were just Kansans. It was locals having their money sucked up by the Casino. That's effectively what occurred. The same thing will happen here in Thailand if it's not done correctly. And this notion that just putting up a Casino is somehow going to make it immediately more popular than other places, I don't really necessarily think that's the case, and I don't necessarily think people are just going to come to Thailand for gambling. I think the argument could have been made with regard to Cannabis but I don't think it can be made with regard to gambling. 

That said, quoting further: ".. helping to generate revenue of more than 12 billion Baht a year." Let me be clear, again, I'm all in favour of generating revenue for Thailand but that said if that revenue is being sucked off the lowest echelons of the socioeconomic ladder, no I'm not down with that. If that's all that's going to do and it's not going to benefit anything. That said, quoting further: "Thailand's economy, dominated by home-grown billionaire families" - dominated by home-grown billionaire families -- you mean the people that worked in their own country to build their own fortunes as opposed to some multinational supranational outfit that thinks that they can tell everybody what to do. I don't know why, because they think that magically because they come from places like the EU or the West that they are able to just tell us all what to do. When was that era that they did that? Oh it was Colonialism, yeah. Stop with that attitude, okay, it needs to end. Thailand is a very sophisticated place; its civilization goes back into the mist of time, all right. This is nonsense. And this nonsense that again to disdain our own local billionaires, who made their own fortunes on their own? Pound sand Reuters. Why don't you get out of my country? Quoting further: ".. has long had a reputation for crony capitalism," - oh my God, well we wouldn't want that. Are you kidding me? Crony capitalism? After everything we have seen out of Wall Street since 2008? After everything we saw at the IMF and zero interest rates, just nonsense, dumping money onto wars and nobody can find where the money is at? You are calling us crony capitalists out here? Are you kidding me? Quoting further: "..with a track record of Governments seen to back big businesses, a factor of potential concern for investors." If you don't like it, don’t invest here. Go away. I don't want investors in Thailand that want to tell us what to do; dictate to us how the laws are going to work; dictate to us that the domestic is not worth as much as your multi-national corporation, that the domestic market, the people here don't matter. That's what we are being told. We just want to come in and set up a casino and all you plebs, just need to come in and give us your money. Quoting further: "Gushin said he expected the Government to emphasize "true competition" - what is that? As I mentioned earlier in this video, SFIUS, the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States, they are entirely designed to thwart foreign investment in the United States if it is deemed to impinge on National Security. How does it not impinge on National Security in Thailand, if a casino ends up here and it sucks all the locals dry of all their livelihood? I really, just the whole tone of this is off. "True competition"! True competition? Two crews run the entire Las Vegas strip. I have been there; I have worked there. Harris owns one side; MGM owns the other. Is that "true competition"? Quoting further: "..as it seeks requests for proposals in coming months." Hey I have a proposal for everybody. How about we just have the Thais run this. That's what is starting to look like a better idea to me than anything. Quoting further: "Some well-connected Thai enterprises are already angling for a piece of the action." 

You know, and there's a whole, okay there's a whole other side of this, and the thumbnail for this, this is where we're getting to the thumbnail. Why do we have Jodie Foster - and now the Western lady has shown up and everything's great again. That's what I think of when I think of this “expert” Gushin coming out here to Thailand, telling us all what we're going to be doing and how we need to be doing it. Oh wow, the Westerner came. Us Thais didn't know how to do anything. When I first got here to Thailand - sorry I don’t mean to rant on this and get incoherent - when I first came out here to Thailand years ago I had seen The King and I and I had seen the movie Anna and the King but I came to find out it was banned her in Thailand. It always kind of bugged me that first five years or so, why is it banned? Then I kind of forgot about it and then I became Thai and after I have been Thai for about a year, Anna and the King came out, I think it was home actually, I think it was stateside with my family, and it was just on. I remember somebody to say, isn't this banned in Thailand?" I said oh yeah, I kind of wondered why. Well I stopped wondering after watching it because the whole premise of the story is everything here in Thailand was backward; we did know how to do anything and then the Western lady came and everything was great again. That's how I feel about Mr. Gushin. Oh, everything was terrible; we didn't know how to take care of ourselves; oh we would have so selfishly and stupidly thrown all of our resources into taking care of our domestic economy, but then Mr. Gushin showed up and now everything's great again.