Myanmar’s Casino Cities: The Role of China and Transnational Criminal Networks

By Jason Tower and Priscilla Clapp

Complex transnational networks of Chinese investors, forced out of Cambodia for illegal gambling activity, are relocating to Karen State to build three megacities as a hub for casinos. They use partnerships with local armed groups, operating under the authority of the national army, to gain access to land, offering in return a share of the profits. • The Myanmar government has yet to license casinos, meaning this sector remains illegal. Investors have ignored government approval processes, however, and moved rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic to build facilities to house illegal gambling. • To circumvent Chinese laws against gambling, ethnic Chinese with citizenship in other countries spearhead these projects. Of concern to Beijing, they have co-opted Chinese government institutions and agencies to present their activities as central to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. • These megacities flagrantly undermine Myanmar’s efforts to advance reforms serving the national interest, and Naypyidaw is responding with establishment of a commission to investigate them. • This kind of investment threatens to reverse recent gains made by decades of US assistance supporting democratic reform in Myanmar, and merits strong American support for efforts to control it.

Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2020. 28p.