Police are still looking for Nguyen Thi Hanh, a lady who they suspect was running cruise ship gambling tours out of Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. Hanh is a bad lady, already previously convicted for gambling and drug trafficking she is still eluding the cops.

However, Vietnam does have a few land based casinos for tourists, but what about the locals, what do they do? Well, they have it sorted now….. wireless and bankless
First the local punter buys a laptop, then he or she opens an account with a specific online gambling site, then collector comes personally to collect their cash deposit, usually a minimum of $500. The ‘collector’ will also bring the winnings…..they hope.

There have been reports of winnings going astray . Some high rolling punters have a credit line with the online casino but if they fail to pay a debt the heavies move in and take possession of goods to the value of…..or worse, like we see on the movies.
To date none of these shonky online casinos have been caught. As is usual the big bosses usually operate from outside the country’s jurisdiction so only the on-location staff would suffer arrest.

Next door in Cambodia the government is messing casino operators around. Having allowed casinos to open and operate the government are now doing a turnaround . For example the sports betting company Cambo Six, were forced to close their twenty outlets and are demanding compensation from the government.
With these new laws appearing, apparently the police in Phnom Penh are not distinguishing between computer gaming parlors where no money is involved and gambling areas, so they are closing the lot!.

Further west in the north of Myanmar’s Mon State the locals are worrying about increasing casino gambling operations. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) are the instigators, having found gambling a good way to fund their cause.
Many local residents are concerned that, poor as they are already many families will be tempted to big $’s and lose everything.

Aren’t you just glad you can relax and open your favourite page

later mav