Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing gambling. I haven't talked about this topic in a while because it really hasn't been pertinent but as Parliament has now reopened, there is the possibility that in these sessions of Parliament upcoming, we may actually see a move for legalization of gambling here in the Kingdom. 

I thought about making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Bhumjaithai backs gambling project. Wants casinos legalized to spur Revenue, curb graft. Quoting directly: "The Bhumjaithai Party has urged the Government to speed up its legal casino project as the facility will be one of the solutions for solving the problem of gambling dens, illegal online gambling and fraud." Quoting further: "Bhumjaithai MP Saritpong Kiewkhong revealed on Thursday during a press briefing that he would like the Government to consider legalizing casinos to end corruption in this area and gain revenue from legal gambling. Mr. Saritpong added that legal casinos would generate more revenue for Thailand from both locals and foreigners." Quoting further: "In January, a special house committee proposed it study the feasibility of building entertainment complexes, including legal casinos due to their lucrative potential." Quoting further: "According to the results of that study, such a complex would cost US$8 billion, or 280 billion Baht. It would take 5 years to build and employ 30,000 people." Well that is certainly notable. Quoting further and this may be of interest. "The report says one could be built in Bangkok, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), or any of the 22 main tourist hotspots.'

Now something I have talked about at length on this channel before is the fact that I was in the gaming industry, I actually worked as a casino dealer all through law school; it was kind of how I helped pay for law school and I have got some experience in that sector. There are definite positives and negatives associated with legalized gambling in a given jurisdiction, notably as noted in this article it curves what was once illegal, so elicit activity under present laws would be legalized presumably and we would see a lot less problems with crime related to gambling. 

More to the point I think for any government is going to be Revenue collection in the form of taxes associated with gambling. But as I have said in other videos, I think Thailand needs to take a very deep look at this and they need to balance out the positives and negatives, look at the overall benefits. The other thing is this notion that everything has to be centred around a major Casino Centre, some sort of complex, in my mind is a little bit shortsighted as we have seen in prior articles where we have discussed this, where we have quoted articles, the data points, we have actually seen that in proposed schemes regarding casinos in the past, we have actually seen situations where they were actually talking about a little more broadly based legalization. And as we discussed in those prior videos, in my mind it would be a better thing for Thailand generally if we saw more broadly based legalization. 

So what am I talking about here? Well I am thinking maybe something akin to a license that one could have to say have like one card table in a given small venue. A bar and grill could have a poker table in the back or maybe some kind not so much a gambling table but games of skill - for example poker as opposed to games of chance like house games: blackjack, roulette, baccarat or slot machines or something like that, those types of games, what I call chance games. Again slot machines, certain table games that have certain inherent house advantages are very different from what I call skill games like poker that require a certain amount of inherent skill on the part of the player. So I think it is something to think about in the future with regard to the licensing of casino operations or gambling operations where maybe not focus on focusing all of that activity in one area, but perhaps like evening it out to many people across the board.