Eighty-eight casinos opened in Sihanoukville, Cambodia last year, but the boom in development could end this year after new benchmarks for capital investment are put in place.
According to the Macau News Agency, analyst Ben Lee of iGamiX believes the number of casinos—most of them online—will continue to rise until new regulations kick in. Then the inventory may be cut in half.
“We expect about 50 percent of them to drop off once the government brings in their gaming regulations which requires a capital investment of US$50 million (MOP404 million) over five years,” he said. According to Lee, this will take place “tentatively” in September of this year.
Right now, the only investment required to register a casino in Sihanoukville is an annual fee of US$40,000—hence the proliferation of smaller players flooding the market. Chinese companies are especially motivated to register online casinos in Cambodia, as online gaming in China is illegal.
Victor Chong Wei Yong, marketing director of the Jin Bei Group, told MNA that the market is currently “self-regulated,” and he welcomes the prospect of better regulations. “We adopt the best practices in Macau and in Singapore. The Cambodian government does not have the know-how.” Jin Bei runs the largest casino resort in Sihanoukville, and is improving services in a bid for more high-value customers. “Right now there are fly-by-night casinos that create a horrible reputation for Cambodia,” Chong told MNA.
“A baccarat table is the same everywhere in the world. And for the VIP players, any destination is one phone call away. I do not know of any casino that will not send a jet to any destination you want to go.”
Meanwhile, Lee says he believes “the real money is in the online” in Cambodia, and he doesn’t think “serious players” will go to Sihanoukville to gamble.
“You have the mass Chinese tourists whose tour group leaders have been incentivized to take their groups there. You have the online staff who have nothing to do on their time off. These are the two main groups of actual visitors to those casinos,” he noted.
