Inside Asian Gaming

20 long time for any corporation with a good foundation, good corporate governance practices, prudent financial planning, good management, strong and yet realistic vi- sion and a bit of imagination, to create a noted and respectable dot in the world gaming market.” Dr Chen appears keen to take his time and accomplish the task properly, rather than rushing to increase capacity in order to take advantage of his monopoly posi- tion. He quotes Confucius: “He who walks his own pace and never stops will reach the destination.” Thus, while the unveiling of NagaWorld in all its glory looks likely to only happen in the second quarter of 2008, rather than the end of this year as originally planned, the property will be to Dr Chen’s satisfac- tion. After all, as he points out, “What’s the hurry?”His attitude contrasts to that of sev- eral Macau operators, who hastily convert- ed residential and commercial buildings into casino hotels in order to tap into the tourism and gaming boom which resulted from mainland China’s easing of travel re- strictions on mainlanders wishing to visit Macau and Hong Kong from the second half of 2003. These converted buildings could soon be rendered obsolete as table capacity continues soaring in Macau, and glitzy new properties such as the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel open. Cambodia rising Cambodia deserves the phoenix meta- phor more than any other Asian nation. During the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979, up to half the country’s population was killed, as Pol Pot moved ev- eryone out of the cities into the countryside in order to establish his agrarian collective utopia. For almost four years, Phnom Penh was a ghost town. Taking their cue from China’s Cultural Revolution—but going to a maniacal extreme—the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed up to 2 million people, seeking to exterminate anyone whom