Inside Asian Gaming

December 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 33 pretty well-known hotel. Supposedly it was operating with the tacit consent of people withinthegovernment,butitgotintotrouble because allegedly either the customers or the management—which was mainland Chinese at that time—were bringing in local prostitutes. So since then there are no slot halls or full casinos operating in Yangon or in any of the other major cities.” The anti-casino lobby might claim vindication with that anecdote. But Ben Lee says that an officially sanctioned casino industry could be more easily controlled and inspected. And at the scale of small casino hotels with perhaps 50 to 100 slots and 20 to 40 tables, it would be catering for mainly Chinese business people, not locals. “They wouldn’t need Burmese players because of the sheer number of Chinese business people already visiting major cities like Mandalay,” states Mr Lee. “Most Burmese would be too poor to participate anyway. But the rich Burmese that are influential enough to get an exit visa, are currently going to Singapore or Old school—downtown Yangon Macau to gamble. In Myanmar, the Chinese business people would be the mass market. And there would be no need for junket partners. The Chinese are already doing business there and can move money crossborder for bothbusiness andgambling purposes.” Although the first wave of Asian-backed city casino-hotels is likely to be modest in scale, Ben Lee thinks it would be short- sighted ofWestern operators to overlook the potential of the country. “It depends on how the industry wants to pitch it to the government. It needs to be pitched as a tourism driver. The potential is certainly there. If Western companies don’t do anything, the Chinese are going to run away with it.”