The Prime Minister of Bangkok, Samak Sundaravej’, supports the legalization of casinos in the country, in spite of the public opinion, which thinks that this action will benefit only the government and in exchange damage society. If this multi-million idea could actually be put into practice, then it would only serve politicians, businessmen and overall the government’s allies.

The public Thai public in general would receive nothing more than a very probable increase in debt and family and work problems.

A former football gambler said that although gambling is real and large enough in order to be called an industry, most part of Thai’s society are still poorly educated and cannot distinguish between gambling pros, cons and possible consequences of being addicted, so casino’s aren’t ready to be legalized or brought to light in that society.

In spite of this, Sundaravej thinks that legalizing gambling will help Thailand preserve its competitive edge in the local tourist trade. Also, it will eliminate illegal gambling and in consequence stop the flow of money to neighboring countries. “We have to seriously study the idea of how to open legal casinos”, Samak said. “This way, the illegal dens and private casinos will close down. If people want to gamble they can come here, so the police won’t have to crack down on the illegal dens.”