A gambling development study cleared the Thailand’s House of Representatives to await approval from the cabinet of Prime Minister. If approved, the study may trigger up to eight legal integrated casino developments in the country to reportedly see some of these opened as early as in 2029.

First Legal Casino Launch:

As reported by Inside Asian Gaming (IAG), the Maybank Investment Bank has released an update to advise that the legal casino resorts could most likely be developed in the Thai Eastern Economic Corridor. The bank added the development would take around five years to complete if  any casino developers have received the initial regulatory approval by the end of this year.

As reported, such an action would represent the launch of the first land-based casino in Thailand. Also, the completion of the first integrated resort would be almost simultaneous with the opening of the MGM Resorts International‘s $10 billion integrated resort in Osaka, Japan, scheduled for 2030. It does sound exciting, but the destiny of the first potential Thai casino resort in still in the hands of the cabinet.

Eastern Economic Corridor Most Likely to Host Developments:

Maybank IB analyst Samuel Yin Shao explains the procedure upon the potential study approval. “License bidders will be evaluated by a committee headed by the Prime Minister,” he reportedly said earlier today. According to the source, Maybank identifies 15 locations in eastern, southern, northern, and northeastern economic corridors as the favored locations for the legal casino development. These reportedly include Rayong, Chonburi, and Chachoengsao, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nong Khai, Udon Thani, and more.

The analyst said: “These locations are also in the midst of building/upgrading their airports, ports and high-speed rail. The whole idea of economic corridors is to attract more tourists to Thailand. Assuming two years to finalize a regulatory framework and three years to construct, the first economic corridor may only open in 2029.”

Investment Level to Determine Priority Projects:

Yin also indicated that the location of each integrated resort development would determine the level of investment volume. According to him, the government would classify the designated development areas into four different investment sizes. As reported, the Thai authorities would therefore issue the first gaming license to the largest development project with the investment threshold not lower than US$2.7 billion, with other to follow accordingly.

As the Thai gaming stakeholders are looking forward to receiving the signal from the Prime Minister to call for bids, the Maybank expert reportedly discussed the impact of the new casino developments on the adjacent gambling industry participant. According to him, Singapore’s integrated resorts and Cambodia’s NagaWorld could experience the reduced operating volumes once the first legal casino integrated resort is launched in Thailand.

Potential Impact on Regional Casino Resorts:

Though expected to launch at the same time with the Thai casinos, the aforementioned IR in Osaka, Japan seems likely to be excluded from the potential impact, as well as Malaysian resort. “We expect Genting Malaysia’s Resorts World Genting to be least impacted as less than 20% of their GGR is derived from foreigners,” Yin reportedly said.

He also addressed other potential impacts. “We are more concerned for Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa where we estimate that around 60% of GGR is derived from foreigners, and the NagaCorp’s Naga 1 and 2 where almost all their GGR is derived from foreigners.” But having a new kid on the block doesn’t have to mean any trouble for the neighborhood as Yin reportedly added: “Yet, recall that many whom had believed that Malaysian GGR would fall after the Singaporean integrated resorts opened in 2010 were proven wrong.”

As reported by IAG, the Singapore and Cambodian resorts will soon launch massive expansion projects to absorb the impact of the Thai integrated resort that could open in 2029. The Maybank analyst reportedly assumes that the adjacent resorts have more than enough time to respond to the current regional market developments.