Cambodia's Casino Gamble | 101 East

[Music] a Chinese casino empire to rival Macau and Las Vegas has shot up on the coast of Cambodia in just a few years seen Oakville has been transformed from a sleepy tourist town into a heaving metropolis money is flooding in but so too are notorious Chinese cartels with allegations of abduction torture and even murder it seems these gangs will stop at nothing in their quest to get rich quick if the money not a right they kill those people 101 East investigates the growing criminal underbelly of Cambodia's casino boom [Music] here on the tarmac at Cambodia's Phnom Penh International Airport the authorities have their hands full they're deporting a hundred and fifty Chinese citizens the detainees of prodded and probed like cattle before being bundled aboard two specially chartered players but it's Chinese police not Cambodian who were handling this deportation were you surprised when Chinese police came here to take home those people accused of being involved in criminal activity so I'd take a secret she's not a city Chinese businessman Wang Shi long markets real estate in the southern coastal city of Sanaa grill he says the arrests are part of a targeted crackdown on illegal Chinese gambling rackets sigue con agua singing sang given the sole georgg said to me come yet then pursue we then heard such a fail father Sir John tensions up here named after Cambodia's last king seen Oakville was once a quiet seaside town [Music] today it's undergoing a dramatic transformation [Music] for the past three years Chinese investment has poured in and the focus of all this construction casillas would you'd have a thing wait are you going away no it's a meagre to the Dongfang and lasting adjustment so a fastener contour year power food until December so what I seen someone thought I see a transition more than a hundred casinos are planned with most of them already operating they range from shady backstreet parlors to multi-million dollar beer moths appealing to wealthy high rollers but beyond the traditional casino operations there's a lucrative new game driving this boom and the players are far away and online it's a huge business that's legal to operate here in Cambodia but like all forms of gambling is outlawed in mainland China is it possible for someone in China to play this sir not only is it possible they are the target Johnny Ferrari knows this business well the Canadian gaming consultant introduced online gaming technology to several casinos here he says many sites actively recruit gamblers who place their bets from China in direct contravention of Chinese law so this is illegal it's illegal every single bet being made is illegal but you see when I say illegal I don't mean that anyone is getting scammed in terms of the player and players are happy they're getting a fair product it's illegal because this has been by the powers that be and it's all loopholes it's all loopholes and it's not just banned in China gambling is illegal for Cambodian citizens to the entire industry that sprouted here is intended for foreign consumption only it's frankly rare for a casino in cynic Ville to open its doors to the foreign media especially given all the recent negative headlines coming out of this city but this casino operator has decided to allow us in and it wants to promote the very sort of gambling that's actually under the microscope right now @wn Casino rows of smiling young creepy aides deal out card after card cameras capturing each hand and live-streaming two gamblers around the world who place bets from the comfort of their own homes casino operators in Cambodia say the gambling industry is creating thousands of jobs in the poverty-stricken nation but not all these jobs are above board in another casino we find evidence of underage workers and exploitation croupier sock leap is preparing for her next 12-hour shift she works from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. six nights a week she tells us she started working at the casino a year ago when she was just 15 all she had to do to get the job was present a doctored birth certificate that said she was 18 we're not using her real name to protect her identity Konica you're thinking of fabricating like a suit on your topic I depend on my family [Music] sock leap now supports her family earning more than $400 a month nearly double the average salary kundo militant get higher jumped an item like a pendulum it had look so much Angela she says she was shocked the first time a Chinese gambler propositioned her Dave I can't become flop comic-con carmella brain data our homes are under two ways absent and she says she's met other underaged casino workers Wow come you don't know paying it back don't how can your mind with so those young kids happy I'm done bye I'm going to hang mother I'm up another Moyet but how do you know for sure they're they're underage got pay up hey young hey you're they cook them that got no Mack up a play dad got tax I'm not the one waiting out there to be honest most of us don't know what these buildings they're going to be Maki Eno a British aid worker has run a Child Protection NGO in Siena Ville for nearly two decades she says it's common for casinos to recruit underage workers her staff has seen 18 girls one just 13 years old drop out of school to work in casinos since April last year in order to get this salary of three or four hundred dollars a month the young people are being exposed to so much danger and it's really bad for a young person's development to be dropping out of school and they're cutting off the chances of safe employments in the future they're exposed to so many dangers sexual exploitation violence drugs alcohol they're seeing wads of money piled in front of them and they start to think that that is a normal situation which it it isn't gambling industry is not a good safe environment for young people to be working in given scene of bills polluted traffic flogged streets it's not a great environment for a tuk-tuk driver either fourth gender the growing Chinese population is a double-edged sword he's making around $300 a month now much more than he did before God the soaring price of property means he can no longer afford to rent a room don't you tell him my nama Hey but a young relative to be identify own home okay a young male of naturalism subject a telepath he says he worries that the character of the city is changing too fast and that soon Chinese will outnumber Cambodians more than 90 percent of businesses here are now Chinese owner Dan Olivia don't hand and they die one person by person woman I live here for the time with you the man someone like that always after by Jenna Maggie Eno is not happy either she worries about the growing number of families being pushed out of their homes by skyrocketing rents I mean if you see this house what houses shelter here actually two different families living here further along the beach we meet one of those families a Cambodian mother with learning difficulties and her young son life was a struggle before but it's much worse now situations really desperate for her I mean you can't really be more vulnerable than this family is right now they live in that little heart of there's no lock to the door the reason that she lives there is because when the Chinese investments came in the rents increased by a thousand or more percent we're on the ocean tiel beach with the sea on one side and a vast Chinese construction site on the other this four kilometer stretch of sand used to draw backpackers from around the world today it's a rubbish dump I think right now most Cambodians fearless is been a take over from China they feel like strangers in their own city but where Maggie sees catastrophe these investors seek odds they've just arrived in cedarsville many of them are travelling outside of China for the first time we hoping to find opportunities here like investing in the apartment and and different opportunities this reconnaissance trip is providing a first-hand glimpse of scenic wheels broken infrastructure Allen Zhong says it reminds him of what China was once like before it became the world's second largest economy China are helping and going in so many different ways infrastructure construction a lot of ways and I think commodious depending on China a lot like we don't see this is the problem if we see this is opportunity we see this is a growing chance potential for us these investors are pioneers of one belt one road Chinese President Xi Jinping's grand vision to project power and influence by creating new trading routes between Asia Europe and the Middle East [Music] it is a vision that attracted Chinese businessman Wong's she longed to see no girl we're having dinner at a busy seafood restaurant packed with Chinese customers so that way either you die you die you know she said but some water I don't how that she saw that one part the whole I told you to treat we can down there's an end to the hope palawan Sandra Detention Center Johanna sufism but one is concerned about sin ovals increasingly violent reputation now i'm sadaqa means on canto de la jolla catches you at under eager for Malian suggestion that has eg tied to its I not she insider to go together all I just fasten that day to the tools I'm passing it to Molly and Yamato and this is happening in broad daylight here you see the body actually be thrown into the street so I said insane so it's a benefice muti analysis yet but that's a noise hear the familiar shall see tonight you will see can see can get a diva moment Zhuang Yan Kingdom a party here he believes that eventually it will be more like heaven that's because Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a dramatic measure in August to phase out online gambling in which item for Thai League Ahuja yo Kampala sorry it Julian bengi ambient check Kim's the one that's a yeah each other for you so that and found that song for yo yata settlements and a handy shout-out to her since don't fancy friends don't need him Johnny Ferrari is skeptical he says there's no real political will to clean up see no Phil what about the law governing casinos in Cambodia the law this is the Wild West my friend there are perhaps some regulations but they're not being enforced money socks that's all it is and he says crime in the city extends far beyond just online gaming these casinos are just spots for money laundering what evidence do you have to school that I've seen it what did you see have you seen the film casino the Martin Scorsese theater I have witnessed a man walk into the cash room put cash into the bag and walk out and sign nothing several times in the last year Cambodian airport police have busted Chinese citizens bringing in suitcases stuffed with vast sums of money what does it say what does it tell you that some visitors coming into Cambodia have been arriving here with suitcases full of millions of dollars in cash how is that possible well we live in the kingdom of wonder and there are many things to be wonder about free co-heads the Cambodian office of transparency international a non-government organization that combats bribery and fraud he's concerned the recent arrests are just the tip of the iceberg one can put this into perspective if such amount of money can be transported through the airport how much more money can be transported by land or by ship through the ports and with corruption together with loopholes in the law enforcement mechanism it is very convenient for money laundering to look at Cambodia as a destination that would be attractive to them and obviously we have the Chinese investors being the number one investor in the country and Chinese investor is known to be also exporting corruption and money laundering to the world not just in Cambodia [Music] Cole is not the only one concerned the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund have called on the government to act after Cambodia was placed on a global money-laundering watch list but in this rapidly transforming city danger doesn't only come from hardened criminals with construction taking place at breakneck speed the pressure to build so quickly has proved fatal last June 28 Cambodian workers died when the seven storey building they were working on collapsed authorities had twice ordered the Chinese contractor to stop work at the site because of safety concerns since then 14 more buildings have been condemned another 70 await inspection [Music] one high lung is a Chinese tycoon with big ambitions so this is the casino floor Cathy nor has he not told her he's building this 150 million dollar casino and hotel complex which he insists meets all safety standards Selena young go see someone una caja de la action but Haneda I'm though some Gaddafi our children she's a hottie on the CC so maybe the change over here come here and he's a man in a hurry he wants to open the doors within eight months woman its agent calls alone this teaching wrong either you don't see on the window canceled attended some fun week on his own country created G when we asked about the high crime rate here he says every city has its good and bad people and that many Chinese simply aren't familiar with Cambodia's laws like how much money you can bring into the country was a Soylent photo funny condolences may work father Caputo woman you are farm onion you will not even yes you sir in which is not a union woman you wanna put dog named Co union in fact situation King Jack cooking pan listens the under decision Mr Wong is partnering with one of the cows biggest casino operators Sun City which is co-developing a sprawling casino complex on the outskirts of town but Sun city's boss Alvin Chow is in serious trouble he's reportedly been banned from entering Australia as investigators probe his alleged links to organized crime he was forced to make a public apology after chinese state media accused sun city of allegedly running illegal online gaming operations for Chinese gamblers in Cambodia and the Philippines child denies any wrongdoing the bust of Sun City has been denied banned entry into Australia because he's been accused of of money laundering what do you think about those accusations detected ago john cuozzo ha ha ha ha Nishida so good to the parents of parental Muthu Lama or country so just to the computer or poet Gigi Leung : since the other thoughts away our position or the position warned what I'll say me too notorious macau underworld figure one Paco is also setting up in Cambodia better known as broken tooth he served 14 years in prison for a string of crimes including illegal gambling loan-sharking and leading the 14k triad gang when he launched a new gaming cryptocurrency last year in Phnom Penh Wang high long was there in support broken tooth has also reportedly offered to provide protection for Chinese businesses so the woman you go silent lays on woman she oh come one give audiences ankle would didn't love Donna Thompson and B woman far that they could another Queen Ji Won gargoyle who you know has said he can provide that sort of security is he the solution teller when she or all-party Kim dying quarter-sawed oak and swallow or what good on Kanye or poking out my colon that surly if I'm come here making a conscience despite broken tooths criminal past top military officials and senior Cambodian leaders including this Deputy Prime Minister have lined up to welcome him cabinet spokesman paisa pan says the government has formed a committee to prevent officials interacting with such figures we afraid of mafia we afraid of colluding between the officers as well after the government member involve in that area do you think it's appropriate that senior government figures should pose with such figures no it's not proper we done I love him so that was a mistake definite mistake activist hon vernix made a career of exposing government mistakes yeah but couldn't on the liver look happy man but a whole thought that the like I applaud you the tortures come to enjoy wait and see a Snapple an outspoken critic Vanek was thrown in jail for five months after investigating powerful government figures today he's taking us into the country's first marine National Park to see a casino project he finds particularly scandalous on a day like this the island of koh rong son LOM is picture-perfect yeah it's a paradise for us but what the child Chinese do right now is is they try to change the natural place perché just meters from the shoreline is what used to be a busy Chinese casino the operators were ordered to close it in March after Van AK and his group exposed them pumping raw sewage into these protected waters they used to have the license but the license is expired despite and they still operated so to be clear this casino was unauthorized yet its license had expired and he was pumping raw sewage into these waters yes and they barely without authorization but rather than face prosecution the owners have instead been granted a license to build another casino just behind the existing one Vanek worries they'll soon be back in business in Cambodia everything is possible [Music] crime corruption and construction this is the new sinner film and it begs the question who's really winning Cambodia's great casino gal

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 2,940,767

Rating: 4.6339941 out of 5

Keywords: gambling, aljazeera, casino, cambodia, aljazeera english, al jazeera english, cambodia business, sihanoukville, cambodia boom, property, crime, aljazeera live, casino cambodia, cambodia infrastructure, documentary, aljazeera.com, al jazeera, sihanoukhville, macau, aljazeera news, 101east, china, property market cambodia, cambodia economy, investigation, 101 east

Id: 6ubscmDpZJc

Length: 26min 0sec (1560 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 28 2019