Just weeks after global casino operators outlined the need for regulatory certainty if they are to pursue multi-billion-dollar investment into entertainment complexes in Thailand, their concerns look set to be highlighted by a government move to recriminalize cannabis.
Thailand’s Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin told local media on Tuesday that the government had signed this week a new healthy ministry notification that will essentially reverse the 2022 decriminalization of cannabis and require medical prescriptions for the drug’s use.
The notification was signed barely a week after the influential Bhumjaithai Party pulled out of the ruling coalition in protest over Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s handling of a border dispute with Cambodia. Bhumjaithai had been the main party behind decriminalization in 2022 and is known to have tussled with Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai Party over the issue while part of the coalition. Now that Bhumjaithai has stepped aside, it is no longer in a position to defend the policy.
On Tuesday, Somsak stated that the country’s failure to implement full cannabis regulations in the three years since decriminalization had resulted in more than 10,000 dispensaries and widespread recreational use.
“It’s a festering problem and we have received so many complaints,” he said, as per media reports. “Today it is classified as a strictly regulated herb for medical uses, but in the future it will be a narcotic.”
The major policy shift will undoubtedly be noted by global gaming operators who have cited Thailand’s political instability as a concern – even as they keenly follow passage of the Entertainment Complex Bill, which would legalize casino gaming within large scale resorts, through parliament.
At IAG’s Thailand Entertainment Complex Roundtable in Bangkok earlier this month, former Marina Bay Sands President and CEO George Tanasijevich observed, “In order to make the economic impact [of entertainment complexes] optimal, you’re going to have to attract the right investors – and the best investors like certainty.
“There are certain things that need to be laid out so that people know what they’re facing if they are going to pitch for an opportunity in this market. A collaborative process will be absolutely critical.”
Thailand’s Entertainment Complex Bill is currently being reviewed by a Senate Committee and is set to be handed to the House of Representatives for further comment when parliament reconvenes next week.
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