“Thailand is not a place for trial and error. Such experiments can ruin our children,” Suchavi warned.
He said some countries that allow casinos to operate legally are plagued by gray money and corruption problems, and such casinos are unable to boost the economy as much as expected.
He said the government cannot receive taxes from underground gambling in legal casinos. He said other countries such as Singapore and the United States have to face social and crime problems rather than economic growth.
Mr Suchati said Thailand already had popular tourist destinations and good culture and did not need casinos to attract tourists and should promote them.
Mr. Chaichana said that instead of opening casinos, the government should legalize traditional gaming and earn concessions from gaming without opening casinos.
For example, Chaichana said Thais like to gamble during funerals, such as bullfights, cockfights and dice games.
He said funeral organizers could be allowed to run three dice games per night for a fee of 500 baht each with permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the government could run one dice game per night. He said he could get 1,500 baht from the funeral.
Chaichana added that the government should also allow citizens to legally bet on the outcome of 'buon fai', traditional Isan bamboo rocket contests and other traditional games.
He said the government could quickly make huge profits from these traditional gaming concessions, but building and operating a casino complex could take years.
He said the government should also compare tax collections in other countries where casinos legally operate to see if tax collections have increased. He said he learned that tax collections in Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia had decreased.
He also questioned whether the government would be able to find suitable investors for the 300 billion baht project.