A lucrative, illegal casino culture thrives o?n criminality and a blind eye... The precise government figure of 660,206 tourist arrivals in Burma in the past year doesn?t included my short holiday trip by small boat across a small tributary of the Mekong River at Sop Ruak, a sleepy village at the northern edge of Thailand...Given the opaque nature of the 20 or so casinos strung along the Burmese border—not o?nly alongside Thailand but also opposite China—it?s not surprising that revenue figures are difficult to obtain. Some observers estimate a $750 million a year gross from Burma casinos. Nothing o?n this scale could happen in Burma, of course, without the connivance of the military and its cronies, who are in effect in partnership with the casino operators. The figures indicate that the Naypyidaw military regime may reap close to $40 million a year based o?n an estimated five percent of the gross. A Thai government report recently estimated that about half a million Thais lose nearly $200 million a year in Burma-based casinos alone..."