Time for regime to take a gamble on casinos

Time for regime to take a gamble on casinos

One recent afternoon on a random strip of road, two men could be seen watching oncoming vehicles with great enthusiasm. They talked excitedly as the car they were eyeing approached at great speed, taking note of the final digit of its licence plate, which in this particular case happened to be an odd number. Then one of the men reached into his pocket to give the other a 20-baht note, and they waited for their next target to speed past.

This game of heads-or-tails is a good illustration of Thailand's stance on gambling, where any issue with a fair level of uncertainty becomes a matter of pot luck. While a large number of our compatriots are seemingly obsessed with gambling the official line, even from inveterate gamblers, is that established forms of gambling such as casinos are distasteful and unwelcome.

Former national top cop Pol Gen Somyot Poompunmuang discovered this when he launched a campaign to legalise casinos and found himself the subject of much criticism. Most of his critics cited the oft-heard argument that we are a Buddhist nation and casinos do not align with Buddhist precepts.

Taam Yingcharoen is a Bangkok Post reporter.

I find those criticisms absurd, if not hypocritical.

I recently attended a seminar where preventative measures were being outlined for match-fixing following the recent crackdown on corruption in the nation's top-flight football league, the Toyota Thai League.

What caught me by surprise was the overly-simplified conclusion that gambling and match-fixing are one and the same. Such assumptions passively defame the (more-than-acceptable) ethics of major league sports associations. The failure to prevent match-fixing is a matter of poorly enforced codes of conduct, whereas the right to place a bet is a question of individual freedom.

Gambling is in our blood. I probably don't need to remind anyone that Thailand has a history of betting cockfights, Siamese fighting fish and good-old traditional fist fights. Many people worldwide could be classified as adrenaline junkies who seek more excitement to give their life greater meaning. Gambling is one of these forms of excitement. The media loves to sensationalise just how many lives could be ruined if casinos were legalised, and the possibility of an increased crime rate as addicts struggle to find ways to pay off their debts.

Given the potential dangers, which could potentially extend to loss of life, why does the state allow the sale of tobacco, which has been linked to cancer and is a drain on our healthcare system?

We even have a lottery system run by the state, which is clearly a form of gambling. Lotteries can be considered even more egregious than popular casino games like poker and blackjack, which at least allow for some form of statistical analysis rather than the near-impossible goal of beating one-in-a-million odds. Then there is always the stock market -- institutionalised betting at its finest.

The gambling situation in Thailand is made worse by our refusal to officially accept and regulate it, thus driving much of it underground. We allow thugs and mafias to run clandestine casinos, which pose a threat to public safety. It also creates an unfortunate window of opportunity for some police officers to fatten their wallets by turning a blind eye to such goings-on or even being reimbursed to protect these kind of establishments.

The few annual crackdowns seem more often than not like publicity stunts, as those shady outfits are usually back in business a few days or weeks later.

It is worth noting that the ban on gambling has had no effect on the behaviour of Thais who like to place bets. The law has failed to serve its purpose. Moreover, it automatically criminalises people for engaging in betting without considering the issue from a moral perspective.

Additionally, the contention that legalising casinos would ruin many people's lives is not only tenuous -- it has been proven to be a flawed argument, because gambling already flows through our society like a river and yet society still functions.

Unless someone can step forward with statistics showing that gambling is one of the leading causes of poverty, I rest my case.

The Borgen Project, a non-profit organisation that monitors the status of poor people around the world, does in fact list the most prominent factors that contribute to poverty on a country by country basis.

Their latest research shows that the immense poverty in Thailand stems from slowed economic growth, a disparity in terms of people's access to quality education and the economic gulf between people in urban and rural regions.

It seems to me poverty is not so much a result of poor people mismanaging their income as it is the fault of policymakers and economists miscalculating at a macro-level.

As a result of the gambling ban, billions of baht pour into neighbouring Cambodia and Singapore every year. The state should consider changing the law so it becomes a stakeholder. Then it could reinvest the money citizens gamble away in community development projects. Casino revenues could help finance many mega-projects and bolster the state.

It's true Thailand is a Buddhist nation, but this seems irrelevant when we talk about gambling. Most Thais I've met have indulged in gambling at some point in their lives.

We could even argue gambling is natural, that life itself is a gamble as we take risks based on decisions we are forced to make, never sure of the outcome. Maybe it's time the government took a gamble on casinos.

Taam Yingcharoen

Bangkok Post reporter

Taam Yingcharoen is a Bangkok Post reporter.

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