In a recent earnings call on MGM’s second-quarter performance, Hornbuckle said that “next month, myself and Pansy Ho will be in Thailand looking at that opportunity”.

“That is a venture that we’re interested in. And if we do that, we’ll do it through MGM China Holdings,” he told analysts over the phone.

The casino operator’s interest in expanding into Thailand’s US$15.1 billion (MOP121.6 billion) casino market was widely reported back in June.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said that he had already had a meeting with Pansy Ho, the chair and executive director of MGM China.

According to brokerage CLSA, the Southeast Asian country could launch its first “entertainment complex” in five years’ time, alongside a 17 per cent gaming tax.

That is one year before MGM Osaka, another venture of the MGM brand in cooperation with Tokyo-based consumer credit company Orix, is scheduled to open on loans worth some US$3.4 billion.

“I just recently returned from Japan and that it’s moving along nicely. We are in the ground as we speak, and we hope to start pylons by May or June of next year with a target date still middle of 2030 for opening,” Hornbuckle said during the call.

In Thailand, casinos are currently prohibited, with legal gambling confined to state-controlled horse racing and the lottery.

However, illegal activities, including soccer betting, underground casinos, and unregulated lotteries, are widespread.

The popular tourist attraction in Southeast Asia has already set a target of at least 40 million foreign visitors for 2024 – almost the same as the pre-pandemic level – with half of it already achieved in the first seven months of the year.