Inside Asian Gaming

IAG OCT 2019年10月 亞博匯 30 COVER STORY port. The region has seen billions more in Chinese investment for offshore oil exploration and a new expressway to Phnom Penh that will cut driving time from more than 10 hours to around three hours. In three years, Sihanoukville has gone from three casinos to more than 80, with dozens more under development. Casinos licenses have included permission for online gaming, a way to jump start cash flow while the destination looks for traction with visitors. A June building collapse in Sihanoukville that killed 28 Cambodian workers put an embarrassing spotlight on the building boom, drawing greater international and domestic scrutiny. EXODUS The announced end of online gaming has driven an exodus from Sihanoukville. “It’s estimated 200,000 Chinese online workers were in Cambodia,” Fortuna Investments Director Tim Shepherd says. “Two-thirds have left, and more go every day. That means two-thirds fewer people eating in restaurants, two-thirds fewer people staying in hotels, two-thirds fewer people renting condos.” 安寧。」這一聲明直接引發了大批中國工人從柬埔寨、尤其是該國 的網絡博彩中心西哈努克及波貝撤離。 從一個寧靜的海邊度假勝地，變成人人趨之若鶩的淘金之 地，來自中國的數十億美元的資本湧入西哈努克以興建賭場、酒 店和房地產，這都要歸功於習主席將該地作為其「一帶一路」倡議 的重點。日本在西哈努克發展了深水港的基礎設施，而中國則將 其最大程度地用於貿易。坐落在港口附近經濟特區的主要是中國 的工廠。中國投資了十億美元進行海上石油勘探，以及修建了一 條通往金邊的高速公路，這條高速公路將原本逾10個小時的車程 縮短到3個小時左右。 三年的時間裏，西哈努克從三家賭場發展到逾八十家，更有 十數個正在開發中。賭牌包括了對網絡博彩的許可，這是當地一 種希望吸引遊客的同時可以啟動現金流的方式。今年六月，西哈 努克發生建築物倒塌事件，導致28名柬埔寨工人喪生，這令這股 建築熱潮成為令人尷尬的焦點，引起了國內外越來越多的審視。 出走時刻 經宣告的網絡博彩的終結，促使大批人開始離開西哈努克。 「據估計，柬埔寨約有20萬中國員工從事網絡博彩行業。」 Fortuna投資總監Tim Shepherd表示，「三分之二的人已經離開 了，而且每天都還有人離開。這意味著去餐館用餐的人數減少了 三分之二，住酒店的人數減少了三分之二，租公寓的人數也減少 了三分之二。」