Bangkok - Thailand's newly elected Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Tuesday called for the legalization of casinos in select tourist resorts as a means of generating income and undermining rampant illegal gambling. On his return from a trip to neighbouring Cambodia, Samak said he supported the idea of setting up casino at hotels in Thai tourist resorts, targeting foreign tourists and Thai nationals who would need to pay a membership fee to gamble.
"This is one way to undermine the illegal casinos in Thailand," he said.
Samak, who became Thailand's 25th prime minister on January 28, first mooted the idea of legalizing casinos on his weekly television programme on Sunday.
The idea of legalizing casinos in resorts is not new. Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a coup on September 19, 2006 and returned from self-exile last week, was known to support the idea of legal casinos although he didn't push the proposal through during his premierships between 2001 to 2006.
Thailand is one of the few countries in South-east Asia that has not legalized casinos, which are now operational in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, although usually restricted to foreigners.
Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country, has allowed legalized gambling in the Genting Highlands Resort for decades, and Singapore has recently granted licences to allow several casinos to be set up on neighbouring islands.
Illegal casinos are rife in Thailand, providing a lucrative source of income for the national police force who are notoriously bad at locating the underground gambling operations.
