In Laos’ economic zone, a casino and illicit trade beckon

The Kings Romans Casino is an island of extravagance in the Laotian jungle, its corrugated green domes arching high above the treetops.

Inside, hundreds of stone-faced gamblers hunch over baccarat tables, betting thousands of dollars a hand in heavy silence. Out back, a parking lot full of Rolls-Royce limousines adjoins dusty construction yards and banana plantations, with high, forested peaks beyond.

“What do you come for?” a Kings Romans chauffeur said as he shuttled a visitor from the casino to a nearby tourist market. “You like to gamble? You like girls? You can find all sorts of girls here: Chinese, Burmese, Lao, Thai. Here, you can get whatever you want, as long as you have the money.”

Kings Romans is the centerpiece of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a 39-square-mile private concession in northwestern Laos, an impoverished communist country of 6.7 million between Thailand and Vietnam. As the name suggests, it is within the Golden Triangle, the area where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet and which is known for opium cultivation and drug smuggling.

In 2007, the Laotian government gave the Hong Kong company Kings Romans Group a 99-year land lease, and Kings Romans, in return, promised to turn the area around. In a 15-minute promotional video uploaded to Chinese video-sharing websites in 2013, the company boasted of a forthcoming “integrated trade and tourism zone” replete with luxury resorts, spas, a golf course, a yacht club and helicopter tours.

Yet critics say the zone has instead become a mecca of gambling, prostitution and illicit trade, raising questions about the spillover effects of China’s growing economic clout beyond its borders. The terms of the lease remain unclear.

“It was worth it to the (Lao People’s Revolutionary) party — or at least to some people in the party — to allow what seemed like almost a violation of its sovereignty, in order to recoup money from it,” said Joshua Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations, an expert on Chinese-Southeast Asian ties.

Chinese gamblers, legally barred from betting in their home country, account for most of the region’s visitors. Many fly from southern China’s Yunnan province to northern Thailand, travel to the Laotian border by bus and arrive at the casino via a short cross-river boat ride. Businesses accept Chinese currency and restaurants serve Chinese fare. Clocks are set to Beijing time, an hour ahead of the rest of Laos.

This spring, a report by London’s Environmental Investigation Agency called the area a “lawless playground” where tourists can buy banned wildlife products: tiger bone wine, pangolin scales, bear paws, python meat. One restaurant offered “sauteed tiger meat” and kept a complete skeleton of a large cat in a wine-filled tank, the report says.