Entertainment Complex Act B.E. 2569 published in Royal Gazette

Thailand's Entertainment Complex Act B.E. 2569 was published in the Royal Gazette, Volume 143, Special Issue 49 Ngo, dated 23 February B.E. 2569, according to the gazette text¹. The publication is the step that brings the Act into force.

The Act repeals two earlier measures: the Announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order No. 46 (B.E. 2559) and the Announcement of the National Council for Peace and Order No. 47 (B.E. 2560)¹. It sets out the licensing structure for entertainment complexes, defined in the text as the Provincial Administrative Organization, the Local Administrative Organization and the entertainment complex operator¹.

The law covers who may hold a license and where. Under the text, an entertainment complex may be licensed only in a location designated by law, and the license holder must be a Thai registered company with its head office in Thailand¹. The Act also sets out the types of business permitted inside a complex, including hotels, restaurants, meeting and convention facilities, and shopping centers¹.

The gazette text also addresses the relationship between the complex and other gambling venues. It states that the policy of the Act is to allow gambling only within an entertainment complex, and that the Revenue Department is to set the tax and fee rates for the business¹. The Act gives the Minister of Finance the power to issue ministerial regulations to carry out the law¹.

What it means for players

The Act creates a legal category for gambling inside entertainment complexes in Thailand. It does not, on the text published, open any venue on its own: the law sets the framework, and the licensing and tax rules are left to ministerial regulations and Revenue Department announcements that have not yet been reported¹. Until those are issued and a complex is licensed, there is no legal casino in Thailand under this Act. Gambling outside a licensed entertainment complex remains outside the framework the Act describes¹.

What happens next

The Act assigns the Minister of Finance to issue ministerial regulations on licensing, and the Revenue Department to set tax and fee rates¹. No dates for those regulations have been reported.