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In Cambodia, thousands of dollars at stake when it rains

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24-Aug-2005
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PHNOM PENH : Lao Ta and his friends have been eyeing the sky all day for rain, but the sun is still beating down. Thousands of dollars are resting on the next storm for them and other shadowy networks of "rain gamblers".

For Lao Ta and his circle of ageing buddies, betting on the rain is a tradition that stretches back generations to their ancestors in China who wagered bowls of soup and today gives the group a reason to gossip over coffee.

"Where there are elderly Chinese men, there is this game," said Lao Ta, who is in his sixties and uses a pseudonym.

He said he had given up placing bets, typically around 10 or 20 dollars in his crowd, but hung out with his friends to see how they fared.

"You can imagine, we are old and we don't have much money at all. Most of us just play for fun and use it as a conversation starter," he told AFP at a cafe popular with men indulging in a flutter on the prospect of rain.

But now a younger set less concerned with social niceties is tapping into the gambling rings which have evolved into highly complex affairs, said Kim Ny, a cafe owner moonlighting as a bookie who also asked that her real name not be used.

Covert bookies like her working for secretive top bosses are stationed at cafes across Phnom Penh armed with mobile phones, madly fielding calls by gamblers as monsoon clouds roll in from May to October.

An expert weather forecaster employed by the ring boss kicks off the gambling day when he heads to a rooftop to make an assessment of the amount of rain that may pour down, and based on that prediction his boss sets the odds.

Punters wager on the volume of rain collected via specialised equipment rigged to gather rainfall over a four square-metre (five square-yard) area during a specific time period, usually about eight hours.

"When there are a lot of dark clouds, I receive a lot of phone calls -- the big betters don't usually come to the place," said Kim Ny, adding that the amounts at stake soar into the thousands of dollars.

The figures are enormous for impoverished Cambodia. The country is only just starting to emerge from years of conflict that devastated its economy. More than a third of the population survive on less than a dollar a day.

Stability is no hallmark of the rain gambling business. "It works more or less like the rain itself," sighed Kim Ny. "On some days I can earn up to 30 or 50 dollars... other days I earn nothing."

Measuring areas are stationed on building rooftops to which access is strictly guarded, and neither police nor the prying media are welcome, Lao Ta warned.

"They just come to demand money from us. We know the game is illegal but it works just like those who bet on football and to us it's much less serious."

Gambling on rain is illegal but football betting in Cambodia is legal at designated outlets.

The rain-betting networks flourished across the country in the 1960s, said Lao Ta, whose grandfather taught him the ropes, but their popularity has declined outside Phnom Penh and the northwestern city of Battambang.

Police used to chase the rings, but their popularity meant they always regrouped -- and it seems the gamblers do not need to worry much for now.

"The police know this kind of betting is going on," said Mom Phyrum, deputy commander of a Phnom Penh district.

"But we don't consider this kind of game as being a serious crime... and we cannot find the equipment they are using in order to play the game anyway."

Lao Ta, who is less worried about the police than about his son catching the gambling bug, said gamblers should harbour no illusions about striking it rich.

"The winners are always the organisers or the bosses," he said. "But a game is a game. Once you play it, you are addicted. Once you are addicted, you cannot refuse to throw your money away."

- AFP

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