Daily trade on Thai-Cambodian border not affected by the casino plan

Tuesday, 04 October 2011
The Pattaya Mail
By NNT

BANGKOK, 3 October 2011 -The proposed construction of an entertainment complex in Thung-Kula-Ronghai vast field in the Northeast by the Government Lottery Office is unlikely to affect daily trade at the Chong Jom border market on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Manager of the Thai-Cambodian Border Friendship Market, Mr. Pattana Chuenyong (พัฒนา ชื่นยงค์), said the market’s clients are mostly Cambodian retailers, not tourists. The proposal to build a casino in the planned Thung-Kula-Ronghai entertainment complex would not send negative impact to the market as worried publicly.

According to Mr. Pattana, most of the gamblers who usually cross the border to visit two major casinos in Cambodia through Chong Jom are Thai and foreign, mostly from China and Hong Kong. Those people seldom stop to buy anything from the market.

He reaffirmed that major customers of the border market are Cambodian retailers who buy goods in large amounts for their own shops in their country. Mr. Pattana added that tourism contributes very little to the market's economy.