Cambodia Open for Anything to Those With Money

Chinese are well-known not only for their hard work, but also for voracious gambling pursuits. Too bad for most of the gamblers, Chinese gambling laws only allow for very limited betting opportunities in the mainland China in the form of state lottery. This has led of exodus of gamblers’ money to foreign destinations.

Casinos in Las Vegas and Macau just love to see Chinese high rollers looking to bet millions. Many casinos opened up exclusive and exquisite, posh, sultan-like VIP rooms where games such as baccarat can be pursued. Indeed, some Macau and Vegas casinos make as much as 40% of their table games revenues on a handful of baccarat players alone.

This has aroused great jealousy among rich, yet poorly connected to these casinos, gambling entrepreneurs. Always seeking to make money, the future casino tycoons decided that Cambodia makes a perfect destination to build great casino complexes. Firstly, the close proximity to China makes it a relatively short trip.

Secondly, with proper greasing of the palms, attractive land strips can be acquired cheaply for development of casino resorts. Thirdly, the poor labor force makes it inexpensive to operate.

As Chinese gambling news report, the Cambodian government recently sold 130 square miles of undeveloped land to a Chinese company, Tianjin Union Development.

The company is seeking to build an enormous casino resort complex for nearly $4 billion US which is projected to employ tens of thousands of Cambodian nationals. Already, 40 miles of road has been laid, along with other infrastructure to the cheers of residents from the nearby picturesque villages.

Given the investment amount, as well as various humanitarian projects initiated by the Cambodian casino resort developer, few local officials oppose the construction.

A few foreign environmental groups expressed concerns about the comfort levels of the five species of venomous snakes which use this swatch of land as their mating grounds. Local villagers however, disagree, saying that the deadly vipers are a hazard and would be pleased if they casino would cause the snakes to find another location to procreate.

While the Western governments continue to waste their taxpayers money by donating substantial sums to Cambodia to protect specific ancient forests, other unprotected land tracks (no less valuable) are auctioned off by the Cambodian government to foreign, mostly Asian, investors.

Foreign tourism has been bringing millions of dollars and the creation of this new mega casino is expected to increase the number of affluent visitors, create jobs and improve the livelihood for some of the poorest segments of Cambodia.

Opportunities in Cambodia for people with money are many indeed, and as the population slowly shakes off the bad memories of the past, it can look at casinos as the first of many bright stars in its future.