Transcript of the above video: 

We have been talking a fair bit about gambling here in Thailand, the possibility of legalization and the creation of Casinos here in Thailand. In that vein, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, that is bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Senate panel to study governments proposed Casino project's impact. Quoting directly: "The Senate will set up a Committee to study the impacts of the proposed Casino entertainment complex project after the House examines the Casino and Entertainment Complex Bill, which is tentatively scheduled for next week. Pisit Apiwattanapong, a Senator and spokesman of the Senate Committee on Senate Affairs," - so there's a Senate Committee on Senate Affairs? I thought the Senate itself was Senate Affairs. I'm sure there's a reason for it; it's just the way, I'm sure in Thai it's probably more explanatory but that does seem a little redundant - "a Senator and Spokesman of the Senate Committee on Senate Affairs said two motions related to the project have been placed on the agenda for the April 8 meeting. He said that Senators will debate these motions and are expected to set up a Committee to assess the Bill and its potential impact as the House moves forward with deliberations. Mr. Pisit said the Senate remains divided on the issue, with most Senators opposing the policy and calling for a public referendum before any decision is made." I have got to be honest with you. That's about the best idea I have heard on this in a long time. I think that that fully sort of squares the circle on this issue, "let's put it to the public". I mean, let's see what they say. 

I actually think a referendum might be the best way to handle this. Now how the referendum is sort of worded, and what exactly people are voting on, is it just blanket legalization of gambling or is it 'we are going to allow gambling, but only in these certain places, at these certain facilities'. I don't know how such a referendum would be structured but I do have to be honest, look the legalization of gambling here in Thailand, this is a political Hot Potato. It impacts a lot of people; it detrimentally impacts certain people depending on circumstances, and as a result, the analysis and how you proceed in getting this promulgated and done, I think needs to be done very, very delicately. And on top of that, I think we need a clear public mandate; I think there's something to be said for a clear public mandate. Now clearly, if it promulgates through Parliament, and it makes it through the house and it makes it through the Senate, then yes there's clearly a public mandate behind it because the representatives in the house that were elected, a majority of them will go ahead and promulgate that through. So yeah, it represents the public will, we get that part.

But I think for this particular issue, where gambling especially has very negative connotations in a Buddhist paradigm for one thing, and let's be honest, Thailand is primarily Buddhist by a darn sight. I mean you are talking in the upper 90th percentile total religion numbers in Thailand, Buddhism. And Buddhism and gambling do not go, they don't mix, it's oil and water. I mean gambling is very antithetical to Buddhism and I'm not some expert on Buddhism; it's just my understanding that that is the case. For that reason, because it's such a major issue I don't think it's unreasonable to at least explore the option of a referendum because at the end of the day, if there's a clear mandate publicly to legalize this then okay, people can have their own beliefs as far as their own personal paradigm, but there's clearly a public will to get this done.

Now again how this pans out remains to be seen, and I am not here to say that there is anything wrong with this being fully promulgated through Parliament. As I said before, that clearly is an indication of public will as well, because the public's representatives promulgated the law. That said, when it comes to the specific issue of gambling and I hope people realize I am trying to come at this from the most balanced perspective as I can because I come from a background of gambling; I've been in that business; I've seen it firsthand, the pros, the cons, everything, warts and all, we need to take a balanced approach in Thailand. And I am not saying a referendum is the answer, but I am saying maybe we should think about one.