Thailand drops casino legalisation plans after PM suspended

BANGKOK: Thailand's Cabinet on Tuesday (Jul 8) dropped a Bill to legalise casino gambling, a flagship project of the faltering ruling party, which last week saw its prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended from office.

The so-called "entertainment complex" Bill was a key plank for the Pheu Thai party, aiming to legalise casinos and boost the nation's spluttering economy by making it a regional gambling hub.

Most forms of betting are illegal in Thailand and Pheu Thai argued the Bill would end a thriving underground gambling industry by admitting it into the mainstream.

However, the party has only a razor-thin parliamentary majority after being abandoned by coalition partners over a scandal which saw the premier suspended.

The Cabinet has withdrawn the Bill because it "needs more studies that require further understanding and social context", government spokesperson Jirayu Huangsab said in a statement.

Julapun Amornvivat, deputy finance minister, said they "accept it's not the appropriate time".

"It's a shame, the delay is a lost opportunity for the country," he told media.

Pheu Thai leader Paetongtarn was suspended by the Constitutional Court last week, pending an ethics probe into her behaviour during a diplomatic call with neighbouring Cambodia.

The 38-year-old premier was trying to quash a territorial dispute which resulted in border clashes killing one Cambodian soldier in late May.

Thailand's interior minister and deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai is serving as acting premier until the court probe concludes, a process which could take weeks or months.

Paetongtarn organised a reshuffle before being suspended and as a result has kept a Cabinet role as culture minister.