Patience continues to be the strategy for gaming operators eyeing future integrated resorts in Thailand, where political instability is a problem. But the payoff is potentially lucrative.
The panel discussion “Asia-Pacific’s Gaming Boom: Tapping into New and Growth Markets” was moderated by Andrew Scott, CEO of Inside Asian Gaming, and featured Kevin Clayton, chief brand officer with Galaxy Resorts Thailand; Kevin Tan, chairman of Travelers International Hotel Group; and Ed Bowers, president of global development for MGM Resorts International.
Ongoing political instability in Thailand has halted the push to legalize casino gambling, a key government initiative meant to boost tourism and economic growth. After a series of political crises in mid-2025, the government withdrew the bill from Parliament, leaving the future of legalized gaming uncertain.
Several global gaming operators, including Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts, and Galaxy Entertainment, have shown interest in building integrated resorts in Thailand.
“You can argue that Thailand is still hot, we’re going through some form of change politically in the market, and we don’t know how that’s going to play out over the next four to six months,” Clayton said. “When it comes to the Asia-Pacific gaming boom, we’re sitting on about $50 billion in (gaming revenue) and an increasing number of operations are either expanding, like in the Philippines, or coming on the market in the next three to five years, including the UAE and Japan.”
Clayton said the overall prospects in Asia are great, with a growth in tourism and the middle class. Some 60% to 70% of all travel done in Asia comes from that region.
“We still believe Thailand is worth investing in, whether in the short, medium or long term. When you think about the opportunities in Thailand, MGM’s business in Japan (where they’re building an integrated resort in Osaka) comes up. They were very confident and patient in terms of waiting for that opportunity to come about — 10 years or so. Hopefully, it doesn’t take 10 years for Thailand.”
Bowers said Thailand was considered a hot prospect 20 years ago and nothing happened. One of the lessons of gaming development is that it takes a long time every time. It took 15 to 20 years in Massachusetts.
“I’ve been going to Japan since 2009 and we broke ground this year,” Bowers said. “That’s 16 years later and we’ll open in 2030. That’s a typical timeframe for a large-scale development project that costs multiple billions of dollars. There are very few of these left.”
Each market has risks. The biggest risk in Thailand is political, Bowers said. Two out of three court cases have gone the wrong way; the political landscape has also stopped potential efforts, like it did 20 years ago.
“There’s a chance next year sometime we’ll have a new government and they’ll reup this policy,” Bowers said. “It’s a high potential market, but there may be a point where the risk is too severe for large companies to stay focused.”
Tan called Thailand an “interesting market,” with a lot of Chinese visitors and excellent infrastructure. The political leaders, however, need to agree on what they want. Are they going to be foreigner’s-only casinos? Will they allow locals in?
“There needs to be some political will to determine what they really want and of course the issue of the sudden changes in policies,” Tan said. “To be honest,
“The changes in the government and uncertainties on the political front scare a lot of investors, so I think it’s still a long way to go. There are some issues with Cambodia about the border. But when they iron these things out, it will be a very interesting market.”
While gambling is illegal in Thailand, Clayton cited estimates of the potential being between $20 billion and $30 billion, which he called sizable.
“Political instability is common in South Korea, Japan and Thailand at this moment,” Clayton said. “You’ll never get the perfect situation. But the key is a bipartisan government policy that backs an integrated resort.
“In Thailand, there’s the will to do something different and it does need a bit of a refresh,” Clayton said. “They’ve gone from 40 million visitors to 33 million this year. It’s one of the markets that hasn’t fully recovered from COVID.”
“Thailand can take ideas from Japan and Singapore,” Bowers said. “That’s not to say they should do the same. But they haven’t really fleshed out exactly what they want, so they haven’t been able to explain it to all constituents.”
In Thailand, the law as drafted was “flimsy and needed a bit more heft to it to bring the opposition on board,” Bowers said. “I’m sure Thailand can figure out what will attract people. The basic components of an integrated resort are generally the same place to place, with different tweaks that satisfy the government and attract new customers and new tourists to that location.”
Bowers said the element of competition is important as well. When top companies are competing for a privileged license, that leads to something “very special. Provided the government has given careful consideration to this, you will end up with a very good result, which Singapore did. That’s a government that has no political instability.”
