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Mongla casinos doomed but that’s no big deal
More than a year after they were newly inaugurated in April 2006, casinos in Mongla, Burma’s Las Vegas, have been seeing better days since new gambling establishments popped up late last year in the neighboring Laotian town of Boten, Luang Nam Tha Province, according to sources from Kengtung.
The leadership in Mongla, known in the official terminology as Shan State Special Region # 4 (SR#4), does not appear to be disturbed by the prospects. “They have been moving their investments to Boten,” explained an informed source.
A
Mongla casino in December 2006
The
casinos at Wan Hsieo, Mongma tract, 16-km southwest of Mongla, are now serving
as “a training school” for nearly 300 youths coming from Laos to learn the
trade.
There are 52 gambling houses in Wan Hsieo: 30 for under Yuan10,000 ($1,430)
players and the rest for Yuan 1-2 million ($143,000-286,000) players. Online
players from China
bet up to Yuan 4-5 millions ($572,000-715,000), according to a businessman. A
specific casino visited by a foreign reporter based in Thailand was
said to be able to cover bets up to $1million daily in June 2006.
Mongla and its surrounding area, known as SR#4, are under the control of
National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), led by Sai
Leun aka Lin Mingxian, a former communist commander, who has since 1989 made
peace with Burma’s military rulers.
Market sellers forced to donate for Cyclone Nargis victims