Cambodia Gambling
Sep 6, 2011
Written by: Nick Meisher
Cambodia is currently one of the hottest markets for casino developers in Asia, as mega-casino development projects are on the rise.
Cambodia is a budding democracy with a population of eight million and has one of the fastest growing casino tourism industries in the world.
According to casino gambling news, last year, Cambodia begun regulating its casino industry, closing down thousands of questionable operations and licensing only those who’ve passed the government benchmark.
Cambodian Primer Minister Samdech Hun Sen, has so far done an admirable job of balancing the needs for infrastructure development required by all modern nations while at the same time ensuring that revenues are directed towards health and education projects benefitting local villages and towns.
Cambodia shares borders with Vietnam on the east and Thailand on the west. Thailand prohibits all forms of gambling within their borders for its 68 million citizens and frequently sentences arrested home game players to lengthy prison terms.
Such draconian laws force the Thai people to either play online blackjack, or go to local illegal casinos owned by Thai police. However most choose to travel the four hours and play at a licensed and regulated Cambodian casino without worrying about breaking Thai gambling laws.
Thailand has a large and wealthy upper class of ethnic Chinese for whom gambling is an ingrained part of their cultural traditions, and even a religious requirement during funeral wakes to ensure the soul of their loved one is successfully reincarnated.
Funeral wakes for Thais of Chinese ancestry are now frequently held in Cambodia to ensure that this religious requirement is not interrupted by a police raid.
Developers have been strategically building enormous casinos to service Thais and Vietnamese gamblers. Special short term entry pass aimed at Vietnamese and Thai gamblers have even been created which do not require a passport.
In fact, the first thing a visitor would notice upon crossing main land borders with Cambodia would be Las Vegas style casinos just passed the immigration control building.
Asian gamblers are extremely superstitious and great care was taken about the smallest details to ensure maximum luck and profitability including the use of colors, shapes, styles, the positioning of the doors, and even the number of steps.
Casino developers have to ensure that every aspect of the architectural and design plans for a casino is first examined by Feng Shui consultants to ensure that the ‘universal forces’ and ‘auras’ are in balance.
3 comments:
great job! pm hun sen.
I don't know what else to say about PM Hun Sen except that the man is smart and I am glad to he made it legal for gambling in Cambodia which is lucrative businesses and use the money support education and health. very very smart. He didn't have PhD. I hope both Thailand and Vietnam continue to keep gambling illegal.
Gambling in Cambodia is illegal too, only foreigners are allowed to play! Therefore Cambodian citizens as a basic principle cannot gamble; but you may know Cambodian politics very well: there are a lot of exceptions of the law.
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