Local media in Thailand report that the revised casino law includes clauses that seem to prohibit operators from providing any form of remote gambling services to customers outside the casino premises.
After the State Council completed its study of the revised entertainment complex bill, The Bangkok Post reported on some key provisions of the bill on Monday, which will be reviewed by the cabinet on March 11.
According to reports, clauses 61 and 62 of the bill stipulate, "Online gambling and live broadcasting of gambling activities from the casino site are prohibited to prevent participation by people outside the casino."
This restriction will undoubtedly prohibit any form of remote betting through live broadcasting, a practice common in the Philippines, and is also likely to prohibit proxy betting, where remote players convey bets to someone inside the venue via phone.
Another amendment in clause 65 originally stipulated that Thai nationals must have at least 50 million Thai Baht (approximately 1.5 million USD) in their bank accounts to enter domestic casinos, but this provision has been canceled.
This measure was added by the State Council to restrict entry to those with substantial financial resources.
Deputy Minister of Finance of Thailand, Julapun Amornvivat, recently stated that this would only push locals with less capital back to illegal casinos. Meanwhile, Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore (operator of Singapore's Sentosa Resorts World) indicated to analysts earlier that it would be difficult to commit to high capital expenditures for integrated resorts if the market size is reduced to mainly foreign tourists.
