OPINION

Let's go gambling

Re: "Divisive casino scheme put up for reconsideration", (BP, Dec 4).

By allowing our parliamentarians to form a 60-strong committee to study the legalisation of casinos, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has struck a blow against illegal gambling den operators and their supporters who are the loudest voices in support of maintaining the ban on casinos.

Casinos located in every neighbouring countries like Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, have siphoned off billions of baht annually from the Thai economy, while attracting massive investment, generating significant employment and tax revenues, and becoming major tourist attractions.

Our parliamentarians need look no further than Singapore to find a model for the successful development and regulation of a world-class gaming industry. When it opened in 2010, after an investment of US$5.5 billion, the Marina Bay Sands immediately established itself as an icon of the country.

With a gross floor area of over 580,000 sqm and more than 2,500 hotel rooms with full convention facilities, this mega-IR (Integrated Resort) immediately became a must-visit destination, even although the casino occupied less than 3% of the total area. So successful have the first two casinos been, in 2019 they committed an additional combined investment of US$6.3 billion for expansion and extension of their licences until 2030.

The scale of Thailand's tourism industry, once it returns to its 2019 momentum, suggests Thailand could attract domestic and foreign investment of US$10-15 billion for three licences for mega-IRs in Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

At the same time, by legalising and transparently regulating the gaming industry, Thailand could eliminate many of the social ills associated with illegal gambling dens.

Re: "Royal pardon for prisoners", (BP, Dec 6).

The Thai prison system is, and has for more than a decade, held more than double the number of inmates than its designed capacity. This results in many prisoners having not more than 0.5 sqm to sleep in. The accepted human rights standard is 4 sqm.

The exceptions, of course, are those wealthy enough to pay prison authorities for private cells, or placement in hospital facilities where all manner of extra privileges are available.

Tens of thousands of innocent people are imprisoned in Thailand before they are convicted, often for years. They are imprisoned together with and in the exact same conditions as convicted prisoners, also violating accepted human rights standards.

A quick search on your website for "Eric Bahrt" yields 879 results. I have been an avid reader of the Bangkok Post on Saturday and Sunday for the past two years, especially the PostBag, and always see a letter from this contributor. He must have a lot of free time to muse. It would seem others should be given a chance to contribute to the exclusion of Mr Bahrt.

He seems to be an anti-vaxxer which does not bode well for getting this pandemic under control and yet the Bangkok Post magnifies his logic to defend not getting vaccinated or claim the whole pandemic is fake news. This goes on and on in post after post, and is getting weary. I say give it a rest and let the majority of other readers comment in defence of vaccines.