Will The Gobi Become A Gambling Destination?
Many areas across the globe have been turning to the gaming world as a way to increase revenue and encourage the tourist trade. I am a somewhat surprising announcement Mongolia has announced that it is attempting to create a gambling and resort destination in the middle of nowhere.
Mongolian planners and a little known American real estate firm have formed a partnership to bring a casino the Zamyn Uud, a Mongolian border town that literally has more livestock than people. It is also the main rail link between Russia and China so in some ways there is potential I suppose.
The Mongolian government signed a contract with Winwheel Bullion LLC, who would be in charge of building a casino complex, with hotels, a convention center, shopping malls, banks and financial institutions and a modern airport to bring visitors to Zamyn Uud. Both sides agree that this is a major occurrence as s Mongolia continues its transition to a free market economy.
Zamyn Uud has a population of  8,400 citizens and 10,372 various livestock. While this sort of sounds like Las Vegas in that it is a desert location, the area is faced with a major water shortage. In fact, in 2004, the U.S. Agency for International Development found the area to be “perilously short of water.” The planners however say that they have located groundwater that should rectify the situation.ÂÂ
Since Zamyn Uud is a border town and it is hoping that it can attract the Chinese and their booming economy to frequent the prospective casino. Current casinos in Vietnam and Myanmar that border on China have indicated that the Chinese are more than willing to gamble.
Officials hope that the free economic zone will stimulate business and allow the east and west to converge. This is kind of a strange scenario to envision seeing as the town still has sand buildings. Also proposed or flight routes from across Asia, a pan-Asian highway system and modern telecommunications. The first stage of building will start this summer.
This seems to be one of those ideas that is just so strange that it could work. The Chinese have indicated that they are willing to gamble and if they are willing to go to Zamyn Uud it could be successful. I think that they town just lacks the basic infrastructure to make it a location that could draw from all across Asia. It just feels like the planning for this is a little thin.
Article by Bob Yausie  ÂÂ