As reported by several big news outlets, Cambodian authorities have announced that the nation’s estate of prominent land-based casino gaming facilities has been abiding by the latest legislation which after being implemented brought a total ban or prohibition on the online gambling provision. According to several reports by Inside Asian Gaming, the country’s Prime Minister Mr. Sen alongside the administration ratified this measure back in August last year.
This measure was implemented shortly and it saw the country of over fifteen million people cease renewing as well as issuing online gambling licenses. This legislation in particular also intended to satisfy protests from Chinese officials regarding public security and crime by prohibiting online casino venues and similar facilities from offering casino gaming services online after a deadline which was set for the 1st of January.
Gambling in Cambodia
When it comes to gambling in the country, it is officially illegal under its Law on Suppression of Gambling from 1996 that outlawed all sorts of unauthorized gambling as well as provided a variety of penalties that range includes monetary fines and even prison sentences. However, the country’s General Department of Prisons and its government do not list unauthorized gambling as one of the twenty-eight offenses which are currently punishable by prison sentencing.
The prohibition on such activities in the country also extends to all kinds of online casino gambling and it only applies to the country’s citizens. As estimated in October of 2015, Cambodia is home to seventy-five casinos which today cater to foreign customers. These venues as estimated provided around $29 million in revenues in the nine months of 2015 which go to the country’s government.
Citizens of the country are allowed to participate in gambling activities only through government-sponsored casino gaming which is offered at five national lotteries. The citizens were permitted to play slot machines situated in the Cambodian casinos, while today slot machines are completely banned in the country due to complaints of problem gambling and gambling debts.
One Hundred and Eighteen Fully Licensed Land-Based Casinos
As reported by Inside Asian Gaming, the Cambodian Finance Ministry’s Deputy Director-General Ros Phearun recently revealed that the latest inception on the industry had determined that around ninety-one local online casino operators had shut down their virtual doors permanently since the beginning of the year. He also revealed that the nation now has one hundred and eighteen active land-based casinos.
Furthermore, the official also explained that the government will continue to monitor all land-based casinos in the country to make sure that these facilities do not restart their online operations sometime in the future once the media focus vanishes. Before the implementation of the latest online casino gambling ban, the country had hosted one hundred and forty-one land-based gambling venues.
Around seventy of these were situated in Sihanoukville Province. It was also revealed by one of the provincial officials, Yov Khemara that around twenty-two land-based casino venues were now shut down while a further of thirty-three had just suspended their operations temporarily. Commenting on the news, Ros Phearun said that all sorts of arcade gambling operations in the country ceased after the implemented ban. He also added that several casinos that ceased their online gambling operations decided to remain operating for one or two months just to see if they can make profits while Phearun’s opinion is that more casinos will shut down their doors in the time to come.
