MAKING a new move to allow the opening of legal casinos in Thailand is the head of Thai Civilized microparty but other MPs have vowed to strongly oppose it, Naewna newspaper and Amarin TV reported today (June 22, 2020).
Mongkolkit Suksin-tharanon, leader and party-list MP of the Thai Civilized Party and who has the support of the other microparties for a ministerial post should Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha reshuffle his Cabinet, posted a message hashtagged “support or not” saying 20 of his MP friends back this move.
The issue was submitted to the House Committee on Education on May 13 and it is now on the House of Representative agenda, he added.
In the message the MP said he wanted legal casinos to be opened to draw underground money into the tax system. This would boost people’s welfare and reduce corruption.
At the end of the message he told Ms Pareena Kraikupt, a Ratchaburi Phalang Pracharath Party MP, and Mr Sira Jenjaka, a Bangkok MP of the same party, to state their opposition to the committee.
Pareena had posted a Facebook message hashtagged “Pareena is against casinos” saying that she strongly opposed the opening of legal casinos in this country because gambling is both illegal and immoral and would undermine the Thai society in future.
In the past there have been businessmen willing to pay huge sums of money to open legal casinos here winning the support of some MPs while others fought their move. Previous governments had shelved the issue in the face of strong opposition.
The opponents pointed out that casinos in neighbouring countries are a front for drug trafficking and some Thais already hold stakes in them.
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Top: A roulette wheel spinning. Photo: Eatsmilesleep (CC BY 2.0)
