Unofficial announcement takes fire

Thailand’s new government under Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra only unofficially announced plans to legalize online gambling this week, but is already facing a public backlash. 

$2.89bn in annual revenue up for grabs

Thailand’s Digital Economy and Society Minister Prasert Jantararuangtong and former PM Thaksin Shinawatra revealed that Paetongtarn’s administration was working to legalize online gambling with a potential THB100bn ($2.89bn) in annual revenue up for grabs. 

Former senator Wallop Tangkhananurak, however, took exception to the unofficial introduction of the plan, which he said Paetongtarn should have revealed to the Thai cabinet first. 

Tangkhananurak posits “something suspicious” about the urgency to legalize online gambling, while also questioning the wider impact of regulating the vertical for Thai society.

Potential disaster?

According to the Thai Public Broadcasting Service, the ex-senator believes legalizing online gambling is a potential disaster and “could significantly alter societal values and negatively impact the mindset of the younger generation.”

government appears to be so hungry for money”

“The government appears to be so hungry for money that it is willing to do anything to obtain it, even by justifying what is wrong,” Tangkhananurak stated.

Thailand is the only non-Muslim ASEAN country not to have a legal gambling market, but as a predominantly Buddhist nation, it faces a deeper cultural conflict over betting.  

Tangkhananurak stated that gambling contradicts Thailand’s supreme sovereign leader King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s philosophy, and that those who practice it “are inherently driven by greed.”

Parting shot

Tangkhananurak added that as a mother of two children, PM Paetongtarn “should consider carefully whether she wants to create a society plagued by vices.”

Tangkhananurak also said that it seems Paetongtarn “will pass on an inheritance of sin to the next generation.” While the former senator’s comments will stir national debate at a cultural preservation level, the approximately “two to four million” Thai’s currently gambling online illegally might think differently.