As Thailand continues in its approach to the Entertainment Complex bill, the CEO of MGM Resorts International has shown interest in a webcast.
The CEO, Bill Hornbuckle, was speaking alongside the CFO Jonathan Halkyard when he described Thailand as being “an amazing marketplace.”
The publisher iGaming Business shares how he went on to say how it would be “cheap to build – 35 cents to 40 cents on the dollar – and even cheaper to operate.”
This comes after Thailand has recently revealed the first four locations for its upcoming entertainment complexes which will include casinos. The chosen spots are Bangkok, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.
According to Asia Gaming Brief, each complex will feature a casino floor that takes up no more than 10% of the total resort space which will also include a five-star hotel, shopping mall, sports arena, and a convention hall.
The major tourist hotspots have been chosen just two months after Thailand’s Cabinet approved a draft law to legalize gambling and casinos. At the moment, most forms of gambling in the country are illegal aside from state-run horse races and the official lottery.
MGM CEO speaks out: When will Thailand’s Entertainment Complex bill progress?
Although a date hasn’t been announced, Hornbuckle said in the webcast that the passage of the bill “won’t go as fast as I would like to think it will,” but he suggested it “doesn’t need to take as long as it did in Japan.”
The CEO said: “I would like to think by the first or second quarter of 2026, there’s real legislation and a real process that’s been identified.”
This comes after the bill has faced a delay due to protests, as it was originally set to be presented at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Finance has gathered public feedback on the proposal through its website, with the consultation period ending on Friday (March 14).
While the government doesn’t appear to be rushing into the project, it’s now thought that the ministry could revise the draft while taking public opinion into account before sending it back for further review.
Featured Image: Credit to Ninara from Helsinki, Finland on Wikimedia Commons
