Cambodia Launches Nationwide Casino Review During Ongoing Scam Crackdown
Cambodia's government carried out a full inspection of all 195 licensed casinos between June 2025 and June 2026 as part of a coordinated effort to address online scam operations, and the process produced clear results that officials presented at a July 24 Cabinet meeting.
Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith submitted the findings, which showed that 72 of those casinos had direct connections to online fraud activities, and this discovery prompted immediate regulatory actions across multiple categories of licenses.
Inspection Details and Initial Findings
Officials examined every licensed property during the twelve-month period, reviewed operational records alongside ownership structures, and identified specific sites where scam networks appeared to operate from or near casino premises, while the sweep also documented patterns of financial flows that raised concerns about money laundering tied to digital fraud schemes.
Those findings reached the Cabinet in late July 2026, and Prime Minister Hun Manet noted the report as a significant milestone in the broader campaign that included parallel operations targeting physical scam centers.
Regulatory Actions and License Outcomes
Following the inspection, authorities revoked 19 casino licenses outright, suspended 30 others for further review, and allowed 23 additional properties to close once their existing permits expired without renewal, and these steps reduced the total number of active licensed casinos while removing facilities that showed the strongest links to fraudulent operations.
Data from the report indicated that the affected sites represented more than one-third of the original 195 locations, and enforcement teams coordinated with local authorities to ensure compliance during teh transition periods for suspended and expired operations.
Related Enforcement Operations
The casino review formed one component of a larger initiative that featured raids on 737 scam centers across the country, and authorities carried out more than 21,100 deportations of individuals connected to those sites during the same twelve-month window, and these parallel efforts addressed both the physical infrastructure used by fraud networks and the foreign nationals who staffed many of the operations.
Reports submitted alongside the casino data highlighted coordination between multiple government agencies, and the combined actions produced measurable reductions in reported scam incidents originating from Cambodian territory according to figures presented at the July Cabinet session.
Government Statements on Progress
Prime Minister Hun Manet described the overall results as a major step forward in the one-year campaign, and his remarks at the July 24 meeting emphasized continued monitoring of remaining licensed properties to prevent new connections from forming between casinos and online fraud groups, while the report itself outlined recommendations for strengthened oversight mechanisms going forward.
Observers note that the inspection covered every licensed operator without exception, and the resulting license decisions reflected a systematic approach rather than isolated enforcement actions, and this structure allowed officials to apply consistent standards across regions that previously hosted concentrated scam activity.
Timeline and Scope of the Crackdown
The nationwide review began in June 2025 and concluded in June 2026, and during that period inspectors visited properties in multiple provinces while cross-referencing casino activities with intelligence on online scam networks, and the final compilation reached the Cabinet the following month for formal review and policy discussion.
Additional context from the submitted report showed that some casinos had already begun voluntary compliance adjustments before the inspection concluded, and those changes contributed to the final count of properties that ceased operations through license expiration rather than formal revocation.
Conclusion
The inspection of Cambodia's 195 licensed casinos produced concrete regulatory outcomes that included 19 revocations, 30 suspensions, and 23 closures tied to expired permits, and these results emerged from a report delivered by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith to the July 24 Cabinet meeting as part of a wider campaign that also involved 737 scam center raids plus over 21,100 deportations, and the Prime Minister highlighted the combined efforts as meaningful progress in addressing online fraud linked to casino facilities.