VietNamNet Bridge – Not very far from a rice field which is in the harvest time, the Arun Bopea casino appears outstandingly. Behind its door, more than 200 gamblers, most of Vietnamese, are shouting around a cock-fighting ground.

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At the Vietnam-Cambodia border in the southern province of Dong Thap, many motorbikes with Cambodian registration numbers carry pigs from Cambodia’s Preyveng province to Hong Ngu district, Dong Thap province. Many motorbikes even do not have registration numbers and drivers do not wear helmets.

Seeing a group of people, a motorbike taxi arrives at the Dinh Ba border gate asked: “Are you locals? If you are Dong Thap’s citizens, you only need to show your ID cards to cross the border gate; otherwise you will have to show your passports.”

Some of visitors did not take passports with them, the motorbike taxi driver said that he could take these people cross the border gate, with VND100,000 ($4.5) of charges/person. The visitors agreed.

At the border gate, this man only talked several words to the guards to take people without passports cross the gate. Similarly, he only said hello to Cambodia guards at the Bontia Chaccray border gate of Preyveng province.
The Arun Bopea is being built amid a rice field. The construction nearly finished, proving to be a big one in the future. Near Arun Bopea is an old casino. Though it was not the weekend, this casino was fully occupied with over 200 gambles, who are shouting around the cock-fighting ground. Most of them are Vietnamese.

At the same time, hundreds of people were surrounding gambling desks. All gamblers sweated heavily. Body odor was dense in the casino.

If the cock-fighting ground is for men only, over half of people at gambling desks were women of around 40 upwards. Most of them were Vietnamese.

At the casino’s parking lot, up to 80 percent of vehicles were from Vietnam. Kids who sold lottery-tickets of Vietnamese provinces like Ben Tre, Binh Duong, etc. were also Vietnamese.

Mrs. Ly, 57, from Tan Ho Co commune, Dong Thap province, said sadly that she was out of money. Ly and her husband catch fish in the morning and gamble in the afternoon. Ly said she hoped to earn some money from gambling but she almost lost. “I have to try to break even,” Ly said.

Mr. Bay, 57, said his home is near the Dinh Ba border gate. He is a hired farmer. “I cannot get rich from my job but I can get rich from gambling,” Bay said. But, he said he mainly lost.

Mr. Hay, 35, a Vietnamese motorbike taxi driver, said that since casinos appeared in Bontia Chaccray, his colleagues have been addicted to gambling. He witnessed the break of a neighboring family due to lose at gambling.
The Criminal Police Agency reports that around 3,000 Vietnamese go to Cambodia for gambling a day. The number rises to around 4,000 at the weekend. There are over 30 casinos and 14 cock fighting grounds along the Vietnam-Cambodia border, which mainly serve Vietnamese from HCM City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, etc. In Vietnam, gambling is illegal.

According to police, many Vietnamese gamblers lost at gambling and borrowed money of loan-sharks, but they continued to lose and were confined. Their families had to go to Cambodia for ransom.

People sponge on casinos

Farmer Bay Tan in Tan Hong district, Dong Thap province, has also worked as a motorbike taxi driver for ten years, so he knows the border area like his palm. Since casinos opened in Cambodia, Bay Tan and his three sons and nephews live very well.

Bay Tan can easily earn VND500,000 ($25) to illegally carry a Vietnamese gambler to Cambodia. On average, he can earn up to $100 a day.

Many others also earn their living by this job. Whenever they see strange people, they immediately offer the service, which costs from VND500,000 to VND1 million/person.

At the Xa Xia border gate in Ha Tien town, Kien Giang province, motorbike taxi drivers are also very busy. The price is lower than in Dong Thap, with VND200,000 per person who are locals and VND400,000 per person who come from other provinces and do not have passports.

However, the highest number of people who earn their living by this job is at the Moc Bai border gate in Tay Ninh province, because over the border are a lot of casinos and cock fighting grounds in Bavet city. According to local police, there are around 150 motorbike taxi drivers who know the border very clearly so they easily dodge guards.

Other jobs include enticing people to gamble to earn commissions from casinos and loan sharking. Local authorities said that since 13 casinos opened in Cambodia, near Moc Bai border gate, there are around 70 Vietnamese gangs in Ben Cau district doing the above “jobs”.
The Criminal Police Agency has listed the leaders of these gangs. Police said these gangs often assign those who lost at gambling to travelling to southern provinces to entice people to go to Cambodia for gambling. Casinos often pay commission worth 0.2 percent of the total lost of gamblers. As a result, “brokers” become loan-sharks to earn more commissions.

In late August, Ho Hoang Anh, 19, from Tan Tru district, Long An province, were enticed by two young guys to go to a casino in Cambodia. Hoang Anh lost all of money. The two guys introduced Hoang Anh to a loan shark, who lent him $6,000. Hoang Anh continued to lose at gambling and he was confined. Four days later, his father had to borrow over VND120 million (over $6,000) to pay ransom for his son.
Mr. Nguyen in Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province, has denounced three people – two men and one woman – who enticed him to a casino in Cambodia, forced him to gamble then confined him to ask for ransom of over $8,000.

Major General Vo Thanh Duc, director of Binh Duong Province Police Agency, said that recently six locals lost at gambling in Cambodia and borrowed from loan sharks. Loan sharks cut off their ears and fingers to send to their families to ask for ransom.

On August 22, a Vietnamese gambler was discovered dead near a casino in Svayrieng province, Cambodia.

PV