Transcript of the above video: 

Much to my glee frankly, it looks like there is a poker exhibition that is being held here in Thailand. I've discussed at length over the past year issues surrounding the notion of legalization of gambling. To be clear, look I was in the gaming industry. I worked in casinos my way through law school actually, and I actually dealt poker a fair bit of that time that I was doing that. I worked in that industry about 4 years. Of that time, probably 3/4 of it was in poker rooms primarily; I dealt a lot of Poker. 

I look at Poker as a different animal from even what we would call table games in the pit, in the main gaming area where you have got like blackjack, baccarat, roulette, where you are playing against the house. Poker is, I would look at it as almost akin to a competitive endeavour and you are not playing against the house, so it's not one of these endeavours where there are inherent odds, setups, that favour the house over the player etc. I'm not going to say it isn't a wagering event because it certainly is. It involves wagering, but it is a different animal than again Blackjack or Baccarat, or Craps, again roulette, or slot machines, online gambling, that kind of thing. It's something kind of different. Well let me go ahead and just quote here. I am going to put this up on screen, regarding this exhibition. "The first ever live poker tournament in Thailand has been announced, the WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition 2025 will take place at the UOB Live Bangkok, Thailand from July 30th to August 5th, 2025." Quoting further: "This historic event is fully supported by Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and it is the start of a new era for the country's tourism and sports industry, making Thailand a perfect destination for competitive mind sports." I kind of like that phrase, "Competitive Mind Sports".

Poker is a skill game; it's not a gamble, yeah it's a gamble insofar as any sporting endeavour has an element of chance associated with it. Poker is no different. It involves cards for sure, it involves money or the representation of money. Now it's my understanding, there is no money being wagered specifically in this tournament. It's my understanding the winners receive prizes or something of this nature. I have looked into this somewhat. I am not fully aware of exactly the ins and outs, but it is in compliance with all of Thailand's laws regarding gambling. It's my understanding, again as noted, fully supported by Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports, so presumably it is in compliance with all relevant laws regarding gambling in Thailand. Again it's my understanding, money in and of itself is not actually wagered. This is sort of a, it's an exhibition is probably the right term for it as they call it. So it looks like it is here to show sort of what Poker is to Thailand and show that it could be a major draw for the Kingdom. I have said this for a long time. I have my qualms about casinos, specifically platforms purely designed for what we would call gambling where it's just playing against the house, having games of chance where the odds are fundamentally in favour of the house. Online gambling I find to be especially concerning because due to the mechanisms that you can utilize in an online capacity, people can really lose a lot of money in a very short period of time. I mean just usage of mechanisms to induce dopamine in the brain and things. It can be very pernicious if you combine those mechanisms and those tools with gambling, so in an online capacity, I have real qualms about gambling.

But again, poker is something different, especially live action poker, much more akin to a sport, and I think this could be a major benefit. Again, card rooms as opposed to casinos, card rooms could be something akin to billiard rooms. Could be a major benefit across the board for the little guy in Thailand as well, if at some point in the future card, room licenses were available out there to the average Thai who could add an extra draw to their venue. I could just see that possibly being a thing. Again, not a foregone conclusion and obviously much like gambling and casinos specifically, we need to see exactly what that possibility would look like before implementing it because it could be bad for Thailand if implemented poorly.

But that said, I think that this is a good development, and I think it could be something that could benefit Thailand having poker here because it could be a draw for people who want to come and play competitive poker here in the Kingdom of Thailand.