Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | October 2012 6 Feature the capital, Vientiane, before actually taking possession of the casino, finishing the job once the foreign observers are gone. Richard Meyer is a freelance journalist based in Bangkok and covers the Indochina markets for Inside Asian Gaming . Laos gets a lot of support from the West, and the brazen expropriation of foreign assets may not play well with the donor community. It would be especially offensive and ill-timed now, as Laos is scheduled to be accepted into the World Trade Organization this month. Fabulous Lao Vegas—Savan Vegas minibus publicity, and it will get more if it goes to arbitration. The international interest probably hasn’t gone unnoticed in the government. “They are concerned that we have brought attention to it,” he says. That could be the company’s main strategy, and an effective one. Sanum is making a lot of noise, and that may be enough. It has hired Hill+Knowlton, a first-rate international PR firm, to handle corporate communications. It has also set up a website—shameonlaos. com—to get its complaint more exposure. With the Asean Economic Community set to be formally established in 2015, the whole region will be sensitive to shabby treatment of foreign investors. Furthermore, Laos gets a lot of support from theWest, and the brazen expropriation of foreign assets may not play well with the donor community. It would be especially offensive and ill-timed now, as Laos is scheduled to be accepted into the World Trade Organization this month. Mr Jordahl remains concerned though. The casino is still in operation, but he worries that the government may be simply delaying the inevitable for tactical reasons. Laos might just wait until after the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit of Heads of State and Government (ASEM9), scheduled to be held in early November in