The Senate's special committee, studying the government's plan to allow new entertainment complexes to include a casino, resolved yesterday to establish two subcommittees to conduct a more in-depth exploration of the plan's potential negative impacts.
The first subcommittee has been tasked with examining possible adverse effects of the entertainment complex and casino project on society, legal proceedings, the environment, urban planning, the constitution, national development strategies, and the process of conducting a public referendum, as required for major policy changes under Section 77 of the constitution.
The second subcommittee will study the potential economic impacts of the project. This may also extend to online gambling, which remains illegal in Thailand and would need to be legalised if it were to be included as part of the entertainment complex.
The subcommittees are expected to complete their work and submit their findings and recommendations to the main Senate committee before the end of July, a source in the special committee said yesterday.
As the government is expected to submit its entertainment complex and casino bill to parliament for deliberation in early July, the Senate committee's findings should be available in time to inform the parliamentary discussions, the source said.
Senator Veerapun Suvannamai, chairman of the Senate's special committee, said that at its next meeting on May 15, the committee plans to invite Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and former prime ministers, including Thaksin Shinawatra, for discussions on the project. Although the PM may assign a representative to attend, the committee hopes that she will appear in person, the senator added.