CAMBODIA'S CASINO GAMBLE All in on Sihanoukville



A dead body is tossed out of a car in broad daylight.

As panicked bystanders flee, the car slowly drives off.

The victim was reportedly a loan shark operating in the casinos of Sihanoukville.

Once a quiet tourist town on the coast of Cambodia, Sihanoukville has been transformed into a Chinese gaming empire to rival Macau.

“It’s scary,” says Phay Siphan, the spokesman for Cambodia’s cabinet.

“Sometimes they kill those people. Sometimes they brutally treat those people. Cambodians don’t want to see that.”

More than 100 casinos are planned for Sihanoukville, with most already open to punters.

"It's positioning to be the Las Vegas of the East.

Provincial authorities say more than 90 per cent of businesses in the city are now Chinese-owned.

"It's positioning to be the Las Vegas of the East,” says Wang Zhilang, a Chinese real estate broker in Sihanoukville.

“There are many who get rich overnight, so that attracts many Chinese investors here.”