China has reiterated its pledge to help Cambodia crack down on illegal internet gambling and cross-border gambling.
Wang Wentian, the Chinese ambassador to Cambodia, was quoted by the Khmer Times as saying, “We are committed to working with the Cambodian authorities. We must prevent and crack down on transnational crime, human trafficking, drugs, illegal online gambling and other crimes.”
Inside Asian Gaming called the cooperative effort between China and Cambodia China an effort to “further strengthen bilateral ties between the two Asian nations.”
In recent months, Cambodian gaming has come under increasing scrutiny for crimes related to the industry. Last year, in response to multiple reports of human trafficking, Prime Minister Hun Sen declared war on the underground industry, and the Commercial Gambling Management Commission also issued new and stricter guidelines for legal casinos in the kingdom.
Cambodia is further motivated to be removed from the global Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) money laundering “grey list.”
According to the Global Times, in 2022 China’s Ministry of Public Security, China claimed to have resolved more than 37,500 cases of cross-border gambling. Last June, the Beijing government launched a year-long campaign dubbed “Pulling out nails” aimed at detecting offshore gambling operations, which have been linked to kidnapping and other crimes.
Cambodia’s casino industry was once based primarily in Sihanoukville, where, per Asia Gaming Brief, land-based casinos served as “fronts” for live dealer operations streaming table games to Mainland China, in violation of the law. The government crackdown first caused online companies to flee the coastal town, but providers reportedly circled back within six months and the industry is growing once more.
A resident told AGB that online gambling is “not as in your face” as before, but flying under the radar, despite law enforcement’s attempts to shut it down.
