Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming June 2014 26 Cuba Needs Casinos F idel Castro is gone. He may not be dead. But on a recent trip to Cuba, I was told by both American and Cuban experts that he is beyond retired. His image may be everywhere, but he no longer has a living influence. Fidel has become to Cuba what Mao is to China. His younger brother, Raul, is still alive, but is 83 years old. He has called for term limits, including his own. He will not run for re-election as President in 2018. Since taking over from Fidel in 2007, Raul started introducing reforms. He had to. Cuba is a country where nuclear physicists drive taxis because they can make more than their US$40 per month government salaries. Under Fidel, Cubans could not buy or sell cars or homes so they arranged phony marriages. The property could then be transferred through a divorce. Still today, everyone owns their own apartments, but literally nobody owns the apartment buildings; so there is no one to fix leaking roofs. Since there are no opportunities, young adults flee the country. Many are willing to risk their lives on Styrofoam rafts to try to get to America. Change is coming to Cuba. The big questions are whether it will be slow or fast, peaceful or violent. The old men who have led Cuba for the last 55 years—there have been 11 US Presidents since Fidel took over—are survivors. They know how to hang on to power. If a charismatic leader arose who might one day challenge the Castro brothers Professor I. Nelson Rose is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on gambling law and is a consultant and expert witness for governments, the industry and players. His latest books, “Internet Gaming Law” (1st and 2nd editions),”Blackjack and the Law”, “Gaming Law: Cases and Materials” and “Gaming Law in a Nutshell” are available through his Web site, www.GamblingAndTheLaw.com . By Prof. I. Nelson Rose Gambling and the Law “I crapped out” Meyer Lansky, quoted in T.J. English’s “Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba … and Then Lost It to the Revolution”