Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about online gambling and the question is, is this the worst of all worlds? I thought of making this, well first of all the thumbnail, I'll get to the thumbnail in a moment.

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Minister Prasert reveals online gambling law expected to be finalized by April; sports betting on the table. Quoting directly: "Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Mr. Prasert Chanthararuangthong, provided an update on the ongoing discussions regarding the online Gambling Law, which is currently under review by the Cabinet. He stated that a working group, consisting of the Ministry of Digital Economy, Ministry of interior, and the Office of the Council of State, had held two meetings but had not yet reached a conclusion. They are expected to meet one more time to finalize the details and draft the law. The Ministry of Interior is overseeing the online Gambling Bill, which will include various sections, including the application for licenses. The Bill, which had been in place for several years, needs updates to address the rise of illegal online gambling, which has become widespread." Now that brings us back to the thumbnail. We all know the "they took our jobs" guys in the West, from South Park. The guys that are sort of the classic blue-collar guys that are always saying, "they took our jobs" and then it became kind of a catch phrase. Well guess what, that's the same concern I have here with regard to gambling. 

First of all, online gambling itself truly is the worst of all worlds in many, many ways. I have worked in the Casino Industry for years. I am very well acquainted with the notion that there is sort of a balancing act that needs to be done between the interest of having gambling and the interest of society, legalization versus the interest to society. And while there can be benefits, for example casinos can draw in tourists, that can draw in foreign money, they can also create jobs and that is the key take away. I think here with regard to online gambling versus Casino gambling is look, there are clear tangible benefits that accrue to casinos, we can see that. And there are benefits in terms of having to build and maintain casinos and those benefits to the country are jobs. They create jobs and let's be clear, I worked as a dealer, I worked as a crew PA if you will in the European vernacular. It is a working middle class job; it's a good job and it's something that I think Thais would be very good at. I think it would also help Thais with English proficiency working in customer service jobs like casinos where they have to deal with fast pace and deal with English language at a certain proficiency. All of this would be good for the Thai market, it would be good for Thailand. 

Online gambling to my mind has just all of the onus and none of the bonus. I mean you get all of the addiction problems, all of the problems of people spending ungodly amounts of money and possibly doing themselves damage, because look gambling is a vice. It's not unlike alcohol or drugs or anything else that can be a vice, it can be a vice, and people will lose a lot of money. It will have a detrimental impact on society in some form. Again, mitigating it and balancing it against major benefits is key and that's why it's a good idea to really thoroughly vet this type of legislation before promulgating anything. In my opinion, I don't see what the rush is. What I see is a bunch of foreigners who are trying to push Thailand and bully Thailand into doing a lot of things regarding gambling but again gambling legalization has the potential to really upend many, many things here in Thailand, cause a lot of possibly let's just say volatility in this country. For that reason, I think legalization needs to be seriously, seriously contemplated before final promulgation. 

So as I have said in other videos, I don't see, why is it incumbent upon us to pass a Gambling Act under this Parliament? I don't see that there's any great need. There's no great hue and cry; there's a great cry throughout all of Thailand for gambling legislation in this Parliament. Who says we can't take it over to the next Parliament and deal with this thing as it needs to be dealt with. Again, legislation on this thing has got to be nuanced; it's got to understand the context; it's got to understand how gambling will work, how it will impact society here - both positive and negative - so I think more time to deliberate such legislation is better than rushing out a piece of legislation that might have a detrimental impact on the country. Now bear in mind, these foreign gambling interests especially seem to continually bring up the fact that Cannabis was a "botched" effort here in Thailand notwithstanding the fact it just results in more liberty for Thais and as we have seen, more small businesses. I truly question whether or not they have ulterior motives when it comes to the issue of whether or not Thailand should have gambling and if so, should it be broadly based like all Thais can get a little license to be able to put on some game of chance in their little bar or is just going to be one particular place? Again, the interest between foreign interests on that particular issue and the Thai interest is one thing. Going back to online gambling is a totally different analysis because again to my mind, you are looking at a situation where online gambling brings all the onus, all the problems of gambling being brought to Thailand: the societal ills, the problems within families where people are spending money they don't have, and also the issue of at the end of the day is there a major benefit to Thailand, and if there isn't a major benefit to Thailand, again I don't see where legalization of online gambling is there. 

So again, in doing this balancing act between whether or not again the ills of gambling versus the benefits, I don't see where the online gambling alone, online gambling alone being legalized, is going to meet that balancing test the way that is going to be best for Thailand.