Burma has several border casinos serving Thais and Chinese. Industry insiders say they expect the country's first legal casinos to open in 2005. The great holdouts are predictably the biggest exporters of casino betters. Hong Kong's financial secretary, Donald Tsang, proposed a local casino after he visited Las Vegas in 1999, but the idea was shot down like a clay pigeon. Instead, local punters head for Macau, or, increasingly, onto the growing fleet of casino ships that sail into international waters each night for a few fevered hours of betting.
Ships are also the only way for people in Singapore to visit casinos.
The government in Taiwan has been considering licensing casinos since 1997, with the latest proposal calling for facilities on the islands of Matsu and Kinmen. Thailand's parliament has considered opening casinos several times but has always deferred a decision. That isn't surprising considering the entrenched and powerful interests who operate 10 large illegal facilities in Bangkok and most of the border casinos serving Thais in Burma and Laos. Indonesia and China remain the staunchest opponents of casinos on their soil. Burdett Buckeridge Young reckons there are 30 to 40 established casinos operating with local police protection in China.