Cambodia's Casino License Review Targets Online Fraud Operations

Cambodia conducted a nationwide inspection of its 195 licensed casinos between June 2025 and June 2026 as part of efforts to address online scam activities, and the resulting report detailed specific enforcement outcomes across the sector.

The review identified 72 casinos with involvement in online fraud, which prompted immediate regulatory responses including license revocations and suspensions along with closures tied to expiration dates. Prime Minister Hun Manet characterized the overall findings as a major step forward in combating scam hubs during a presentation to the cabinet.

Scope of the Inspection Process

Authorities examined every licensed casino operating within the country, applying consistent criteria to detect connections to online fraud networks that had expanded in recent years. The process spanned a full twelve months and incorporated data from multiple enforcement agencies responsible for monitoring gambling operations and related criminal activity.

Inspectors cross-referenced casino records with reports of scam centers that had used gambling venues as fronts for coordinated fraud schemes, and this systematic approach allowed officials to isolate facilities where evidence of involvement appeared strongest. Those findings formed the basis for subsequent license decisions that reduced the number of active operators.

Enforcement Outcomes and License Actions

Following the inspection results, regulators revoked 19 casino licenses outright while suspending another 30, which prevented those operators from continuing business until further review cleared their status. An additional 23 casinos ceased operations after their existing licenses reached expiration without renewal approval, bringing the total impact on the licensed sector to 72 facilities directly affected by the findings.

Alongside these license measures, authorities carried out raids on 737 separate scam centers identified during the broader crackdown, and these operations disrupted physical locations tied to the same networks that had infiltrated certain casinos. The coordinated timing between casino inspections and center raids allowed enforcement teams to address both the regulatory and criminal dimensions of the issue simultaneously.

Government Reporting and Official Statements

The one-year report presented to the cabinet outlined the inspection totals and resulting actions without providing additional interpretive commentary beyond the Prime Minister's assessment of progress, and the document focused on concrete numbers of licenses revoked, suspended, and expired. Observers note that such reporting allows regulators to track measurable reductions in the number of venues available for misuse.

Prime Minister Hun Manet highlighted the inspection outcomes during the July 2026 cabinet meeting as evidence that systematic oversight can limit the reach of online scam operations that had previously operated through licensed gambling sites, and his remarks emphasized the scale of the review across all 195 facilities rather than isolated cases.

Context Within Ongoing Regulatory Efforts

Cambodia's regulatory framework for casinos includes periodic reviews that evaluate compliance with anti-fraud requirements, and the 2025-2026 inspection represented an intensified application of those existing rules to address documented patterns of online criminal activity. The actions taken demonstrate how license controls function as a primary tool when evidence links specific operators to prohibited conduct.

Raids on the 737 scam centers occurred in parallel with the casino measures, creating a dual-track response that targeted both the gambling licenses and the separate physical sites used for fraud coordination. Data from the combined operations shows the interconnected nature of these locations, where some scam centers maintained direct ties to the inspected casinos.

Conclusion

The report's release in July 2026 provides a clear record of how many casinos faced consequences after the inspection process, with 19 licenses revoked, 30 suspended, and 23 allowed to expire as direct results of the findings. These figures, alongside the 737 raid actions, illustrate the scope of enforcement applied during the one-year period ending in June 2026.

Prime Minister Hun Manet's description of the outcomes as a major step forward aligns with the documented reductions in active licenses among the original 195 facilities, and the report serves as an official accounting of those changes without further elaboration on future steps. The facts presented focus on the inspection totals and enforcement results that shaped the current regulatory landscape for Cambodia's casino sector.