Thailand used to rank as the 5th most visited country in the world, having received as many as 40 million tourists in year 2019 prior to the global pandemic. The impressive ranking and number was regardless of the fact that the country does not have land-based casinos. Tourists visit
Thailand simply because the country has the most captivating selection of travel destinations; pristine and tranquil beaches, glorious temples, spectacular sceneries and colorful festivals celebrating Thai history and culture.

As the country’s tourism industry was a major source of revenue, the extremely slow rise in the number of tourists visiting the country had created a huge dent in the Thai government’s finances In 2021, the country welcomed only a little over a 100,000 international travelers, which is still a long way from the prepandemic number of 40 billion.

Will a Legal Casino Industry Be the Right Solution for Thailand’s Ailing Economy?

As a result of Thailand’s failing economy, Thai lawmakers are now seriously considering legalizing the operation of land-based casinos to augment the government’s dwindling revenues. In December 2021, majority of the members of the Thai parliament voted to create an Executive Committee that will study and assess the feasibility of a legal casino industry. The potential plan is to integrate casino gambling venues in existing and leading Thai vacation resorts across the country.

The targeted audience of course, are the wealthy Asian tourists who seek out packaged gambling tours in neighboting countries like China, Cambodia and the Philippines just to mention a few. Perhaps the integrated resort casinos will suffice but there is a possibility that they might not.

Statistically, more than half (57%) of adults in Thailand are active gamblers. However, the Thai Center for Social and Business Development and the Center of Gambling Studies that online gambling has been rapidly gaining ground as the popular method of gambling for many Thais. Yet online gambling here is more in the form of sports betting, with which football betting is the most popular. The research center estimated that every year, as much as 160 billion baht (USD5.3 billion) are wagered online on football betting.

While the lottery is legal in Thailand and is the second most popular form of online gambling, many local gamblers buy tickets from both illegal and government-run lottery operators. The Thai Research Centers reported that illicit lottery operators rake in as much as 53 billion baht or USD85.1 billion annually, while government lotteries rake in 150 billion baht or USD85 billion yearly.

Many Thai locals have come to trust online casinos as the better option over gambling in illicit gambling dens. They are wary of getting caught in the middle of crackdowns conducted by local police authorities. Ever since the introduction of mobile gambling, online casinos also gained a lot of followers; albeit not as huge as those that patronize online sportsbooks and illegal lotteries.

Based on the report published by the Centre of Gambling Studies, only 1.6% of those who responded to their survey indicated preference for online casino gambling. Still, ever since the pandemic outbreak, even first class gambling integrated Asian casinos like Solaire and Resorts World are now offering online gambling as an option to qualified customers.

Moreover, online slots developers like PG Games are harnessing AI to make สล็อตpg (pg slot) gaming at online casinos fulfilling. PG Games’ Real Time AI Suggestion (RTAS™) eliminated the tediousness of choosing video slots from out of the hundreds of available choices being offered by a site.

The AI of the RTAS™ system pulls out the likeliest online slots, which a player will enjoy. The suggestions are based on the player’s personal information, playing skills, gameplay and history. After all, today is the time for online casinos to offer improved gaming experiences, as more and more gamblers not only in Thailand, are choosing to gamble online.