Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
An army of bulldozers and trucks filled with armed men cleared one section of the Oc-
cheuteal Beach in 2006, tearing down 71 homes and 40 local restaurants. A resort project
on Independence Beach in 2008 required the eviction of “scores” of other families. The
litany is endless. It's safe to say that any tourist spending a day or two in Sihanoukville has
partied on property stolen from the locals.
This is not to say that all foreign developers are evil. The Brocon Group, an Australian
company, has retrained out-of-work Cambodian fishermen for new employment and has
appointed a marine biologist to clean and preserve the area around their new resort on the
island of Song Saa, opposite Sihanoukville.
And the southern beaches are still beautiful, the water a startling blue, and the wildlife
is hanging on.
In Koh Kong, which borders Thailand, the evictions were part of a drive to bring casi-
nos to Cambodia. There a judge divided a swath of land between two well-connected busi-
nessmen without consulting the forty-three families who lived on it. The families were
thrown out by the police despite a request from Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni for
an official investigation to determine if the families' treatment was legal. Now Koh Kong
has its casinos, half a dozen hotels and guesthouses, restaurants, spas, and fenced-off land
for future tourist development—most of it built on land grabbed from its residents.
Cambodia has defied the common wisdom that a developing country should stay away
from gambling, especially in Asia, where gambling is woven into the culture and the poor
are especially vulnerable to betting their futures on Lady Luck.
To lure foreign tourists, Cambodia has opened flashy casinos on its borders with Thail-
and to the west and Vietnam to the east. Thailand has no legal casinos, while Vietnam has
allowed only four casinos, which are open to foreigners only. (Vietnam requires a $4 billi-
on investment for a gaming license.) Gamblers from both countries arrive by the busloads
to Cambodian border casinos with a decided Las Vegas look and with “massage parlors”
attached to the gambling halls. To build just one of these larger casinos in Poipet, along
the Thai border, the authorities evicted 218 families.
Today, Cambodia has at least 32 casinos, many underwritten by foreign investors at-
tracted to the country because of low taxes, low fees for licenses and low wages and con-
struction costs. For all of these concessions and the agony it cost Cambodians who were
evicted, the taxes from casinos contribute only $17 million to the Cambodian treasury.
This distinguishes Cambodia from other gambling capitals in Asia, especially Macao,
which draws the high-rollers from China and Japan, where casinos are outlawed. One re-
gional gambling expert calculated that if the Macao taxing regime were applied to Cam-
bodia, the taxes from a single casino in Phnom Penh alone would be $43.6 million.
These loose rules and poorly enforced laws have made it relatively easy for money to be
laundered through casinos, giving Cambodian casinos a taint that has put off some high-
end investors, who have stayed away. Cambodia also has rivals.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search