Cambodia Sends Joint Teams to Inspect Casinos for Online Gambling

Cambodia will send joint inspection teams into licensed casinos across 16 provinces starting in October 2026 to check that none still run online gambling, officials said after an Oct. 5 meeting.

The sweep tests whether the government's ban on casino-run online betting is holding. Cambodia has almost 200 licensed casinos, according to the Phnom Penh Post. Any caught offering online play now risks criminal charges, not just a license penalty.

Police and Prosecutors Join the Casino Regulator

The meeting joined the secretariat of the Commission for Combating Online Scams (CCOS) with the Commercial Gambling Management Commission of Cambodia (CGMC), the casino regulator. Police, immigration officers and provincial prosecutors also attended.

"If any casino is found engaging in unauthorised online gambling, the CGMC will apply statutory administrative sanctions and extend full cooperation to law enforcement to pursue maximum criminal charges under current laws."

Yeth Vinel, secretary-general of the CGMC, said this at the meeting, according to the state news agency AKP.

Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, who runs the CCOS secretariat, called unregulated online gambling "itself a form of tech scamming" and said violators would face the country's anti-scam and anti-money laundering laws.

Inspections Follow the Sept. 30 Deadline

Prime Minister Hun Manet suspended casino-run online gambling from October, and authorities set Sept. 30 as the cut-off.

The anti-scam secretariat said 24 casinos had stopped online operations and removed the equipment, according to the Phnom Penh Post. Twelve are in Preah Sihanouk, seven in Banteay Meanchey and five in Svay Rieng. The halted games included livestreamed tables, soccer betting and online lotteries. The secretariat did not name the casinos.

Separately, the licenses of 18 casinos had been revoked and nine more suspended over scam links as of September, the paper reported. An earlier government report tied 72 of 195 licensed casinos to online scams.

The CGMC has not said how many casinos the teams will visit or when it will publish results. The first sanctions under the new inspections will show whether the threatened criminal charges reach casino operators.

Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.