Just 200 metres from the Thai border lies Koh Kong International’s resort casino on the Cambodian coast. The company, owned by a senator and former governor of Koh Kong province, also operates the O-Smach casino resort and has plans to enlarge the Koh Kong International Resort Club with a 15-storey, 450-suite hotel. Yesterday it was revealed that Thaksin Shinawatra, businessman, owner of Manchester City FC and ex-Prime Minister of Thailand, is interested in opening another entertainment centre with casino in Koh Kong.

Whereas Koh Kong, the most south-western province of Cambodia, and provincial capital Koh Kong City have been largely undeveloped and unexplored by foreign tourists, this is now rapidly changing. Yesterday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony to open Road 48 and four new bridges, built with financial assistance from Thailand, will increasingly put Koh Kong on the map and facilitate trade and travel between the two countries.

The Bangkok Post reports that the Cambodian Defence Minister said his country’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, wanted Thaksin to advise on developing Koh Kong as a special economic zone. New port facilities and an Export Processing Zone will add to the area’s importance as a trading centre while the province’s long coastline and mountain forests with waterfalls will attract increasing numbers of tourists.

Further south along the Gulf of Thailand the port city of Sihanoukville with its popular beaches and international airport has several casinos. In February this year Queenco Leisure International announced it had acquired land to develop a destination casino resort there. With the advent of new businesses, more visitors and better access, before long more casino resorts are likely to be built in Koh Kong, which has the added advantage of being close to the many Thai gamblers who cross the border to play in Cambodian casinos. (E-05.15.08)

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