Message-ID: <21100asstr$942462600@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Path: not-for-mail From: Jenny Lee Subject: {ASSM} The Island (gambling, bd, nc, asian) X-Post-Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 17:51:53 GMT Lines: 168 X-Original-Message-ID: <7u7pjh$t5h$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.179.198.66 X-Article-Creation-Date: Fri Oct 15 17:51:53 1999 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows 98) X-Http-Proxy: 1.1 x39.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 209.179.198.66 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDlaktowngirl X-To: story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us JMDigest-Score: good -4 Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999 22:10:00 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: assm-admin Here is the beginning of a story i wrote. The rest of the story is at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/1852/ His Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader, as he was addressed by foreign dignitaries and his subjects, was sent by his wise but now dead father at age eighteen to study abroad. Ten years in the United States produced a deep and profound understanding of Western culture while maintaining his respect and admiration for his own. Returning to his island country at 28, assuming the thrown (his father had died of a heart attack at age 78), immediately he concocted and instituted a program to maintain his countries religion, traditions, and culture in the modern world. Despite the talk of "multi-culturalism" and "respect for native rights" his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader realized that westerners were profoundly ethnocentric. Small, strategically unimportant, cultures could only protect themselves and their way of life by cunning, guile, manipulation, and superior knowledge. The "World Community" would not tolerate any culture that deviated from Western norms. The first step of his "modernization" program was insuring his country’s financial security. His college economics professors had proved that a small country with an uneducated populace could not compete with larger more dynamic societies. He had also learned that restricting or banning an activity created the potential for super normal profits. Anyone who could find a creative and semi legal way to circumvent the ban could get rich. Located within easy plane flight of Japan, the United States and the rest of Asia, blessed with a temperate climate, pristine white sand beaches, and year round sunshine, the country was a natural resort location. However, there were plenty of tropical islands and his economics professors had taught him that if he were forced to compete with other island nations, prices would be forced down, and his country’s profits would be slim. Harvesting the fruits of his college education, his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader had legalized casino gambling on his island. Many trips to Las Vegas combined with innate intelligence and expensive education, produced a keen grasp of the gambling business. He built a large beautiful casino designed by the best architects in Las Vegas. Featuring hi-roller rooms, first class restaurants, and other amenities, it was the equal of any hotel in Las Vegas. The same games gamblers played in Las Vegas were available but freedom from taxation and restrictive regulation allowed him to offer better odds and superior playing conditions to the educated gambler--roulette wheels had only one zero, only the small blind was collected in the poker rooms, slot machines uniformly paid back 99%, the Pai Gow commission was only 2%. Further, winnings could be paid in cash or transferred by wire to offshore accounts in Panama, the Caribbean, or Switzerland. Rich gamblers could bring money to the island, claim it was lost gambling, and have it wired to offshore accounts. Since the transactions occurred outside the host countries financial institutions, there was no way for the host country to track the cash. Money accumulated in offshore accounts could be spent outside the host country. Once these arrangements had become well known, rich people with reasons to obscure their wealth---government officials from countries with endemic corruption, criminals, those underreporting income from businesses, and men planning a divorce flocked to the island. According to internal estimates about 1/4th of the money gambled was being washed in this way. The casino, of course, collected their "money laundering fee" in the house's statistical edge at each game. Many found an island vacation the cheapest and most effective way to wash illegal income. The true stroke of genius was negotiating special deals with all the major airlines plying the Pan Asian routes. For each passenger landed at the island’s international airport, the airlines were paid a cash fee. If the passenger stayed for 3 days the fee was increased. If the stay lasted a week or more the fee increased further. If the passenger flew first class the fee was even larger. Within weeks, travelers perusing the online travel sights noticed that lower priced fares were available but only with a layover in the islands. For a few months, visitors consisted only of senior citizens, college students, and those from Third World countries with severe income restrictions, but as the word spread of the island’s beauty, mild climate, and gambling, the demographics improved. After a year, Asian businessmen insisted that their company "save money" by booking transpacific flights with an island layover. They pointed out that the savings in airfare more than covered a hotel room. Companies were happy saving money and many business executives reveled in the opportunity to vacation at company expense. Within two years, the island’s casino was crammed with a steady flow of well healed gamblers betting continuously and heavily. The casinos profits soared and his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader was flush with billions in cash. Further enhancing the lure of the islands to the rich, was his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader’s program of Special Promotions. Cameras at the airport identified young beautiful women. Using the names on their plane tickets and computerized credit records, passport records, etc. their backgrounds were carefully researched. A profile developed personally by his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader generated a desirability index much like credit scoring generated a loan worthiness index for banks. For instance, a girl with a large credit card debt, behind on her payments, failing school, unmarried, and who spent an inordinate percentage of her income on clothes, perfume, shoes, and lingerie was rate a 90+ on a 100 point scale. Married women with children with good credit who saved money and had good jobs usually were rate below 20. High scoring girls received special offers. The first offer usually included free air and weekend hotel accommodations for her and a female friend under 25 (sexual discrimination laws did not apply in the islands) plus a coupon good for $500 in chips. If the girl accepted the offer, she was given "special treatment" when she arrived. Special treatment took many forms (his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader had an active imagination) but a typical scenario involved the girl getting a free pull on a rigged slot machine and "winning" a $1000. Just enough spending money for her to enjoy the weekend. After the first visit, girls were sent home with pleasant memories—a first class hotel room, a tropical paradise, and money in their pocket. Upon their return, they received a second offer—first class airfare, upgraded hotel room, and coupons for free food. Upon arrival they would win gambling. If they played slots, they won a moderate sized jackpot (enough to stave off the bill collectors at home). If they played blackjack, the dealer bottom dealt her enough aces to give even the stupidest plays a positive expectation. A few trips addicted the girls. It never occurred to them why a casino would give them so much free stuff or how a person could win repeatedly at games where the house had an advantage. Many became financially reliant on the $1000 they were allowed to win each trip, Their gullibility was reinforced by their beauty. They were used to guys doing things for them and getting nothing in return—simply because they were beautiful. The casino developed a reputation for being filled with young beautiful, available women and, in fact, it was. A powerful dynamic was created. Young beautiful women visited the island. The rich visited the casino because of the beautiful women. More young beautiful women visited because there were lots of rich men around. The rich men attracted even more young beautiful women. The second phase was to prevent the outside world from knowing the true nature of island culture. The casino was built on one of the many islands. Foreigners were prevented from travelling to the rest of society. When asked, his Most Eminent and All Powerful Leader replied that the other islands were populated with aboriginal tribes who wished to maintain their traditional culture. Since this played into the condescending attitudes of the western intellectual elites this line of argument was never challenged or examined. On the casino island, a western style system of law and order was established. There were courts with appointed judges, laws were enacted which closely mirrored English common law, and police corruption was eliminated. For those convicted of crimes, model prisons were built where convicts were kept in clean cells, treated humanely, received excellent medical care, and were open to inspection by international human rights groups. Each year, the islands were rated the "most enlightened" by Amnesty International and held up as an example to other Third World countries. -- Jenny Lee laktowngirl@hotmail.com http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/1852/ Koreatown--Los Angeles, CA Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. -- If you enjoyed this work, take a moment to email the author. Your comments are their only payment. 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