A new casino venue has opened for business in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The Goddess of Liberty Hotel and Casino joins more than 100 land-based operations in the coastal resort town, which has been virtually overtaken by gaming halls supported by Chinese investment.
According to the Phnom Penh Post, the kingdom granted 52 licenses to casinos last year, bringing the total awarded to 150 at the end of 2018. That’s a significant increase since the end of 2017, when there were 98 land-based casinos in the country. Many of the operations are concentrated in Preah Sihanouk Province.
While there has been backlash among locals who resent the transformation of their once-bucolic seaside community, earlier this year provincial spokesman Or Saroeun said, “Cambodian people are benefiting from the business directly as they can supply food, vegetables, meat and fish to meet the increasing demand from gamblers and investors.”
“People will also indirectly benefit from the growing casino business through economic development resulting from increased government tax revenue,” he said.
Some Cambodians have spoken out on the negative consequences of increased gaming, including “foreigners getting drunk and fighting each other in restaurants and public places,” the Post reported.
“I’m afraid that casino businesses will serve as a channel for money laundering and human trafficking, or become a source of social problems,” said San Chey, executive director of the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability. “The gambling business is not all good for us. The increasing number of casinos should be a worrying trend for the country. I don’t believe yet that the tax revenue from the casino businesses has been contributing to a solution of the issue.”
Few details were available about the Goddess of Liberty, though previous information mentioned an investment of US$100 million and a five-star hotel.
Meanwhile, according to Asia Gaming Brief, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has agreed to provide financial support for the increased development of Preah Sihanouk province, where as much as 95 percent of all businesses are owned by Chinese nationals.
“The Chinese premier expressed his support for development projects in Preah Sihanouk province,” according to a Facebook post from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who met with Li Keqiang at the recent ASEAN Summit in Bangkok. He said that the two countries will “hold special discussions on grants to support development.”
“The Chinese premier said that China will support the planning of this meeting and both sides will discuss the finances needed to develop Sihanoukville during the meeting,” he noted.
A July report in the Wall Street Journal contended that China has signed a secret agreement allowing its armed forces to use a Cambodian navy base near Sihanoukville.
At the time, Chinese and Cambodian officials denied plans for a Chinese military base in the country. “Nothing is happening like that,” Phay Siphan, a Cambodian government spokesman, said. He called it “fake news.”
In related news, Cambodia’s casino sector still represents a risk for the country in terms of money-laundering and terrorism financing, according to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial watchdog based in Paris.
In an October statement, FATF said Cambodia remains on its list of jurisdictions with “strategic anti money laundering (AML) and combatting the financing of terrorism (CFT) deficiencies”. The body conceded the country has “taken steps towards improving its AML/CFT regime, including by initiating off-site and on-site supervision of the real estate and casino sectors.”
A study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published in July said weak law enforcement and lax regulation in Southeast Asia give crime syndicates an opening to launder dirty money, including money made from drug trafficking.
