Cambodia's Nationwide Casino Review Exposes Ties to Online Fraud Networks
Tina Keller · Jul 30, 2026
Cambodia's Nationwide Casino Review Exposes Ties to Online Fraud Networks
The Cambodian government carried out a full inspection of every one of the country's 195 licensed casinos between June 2025 and June 2026 as part of its ongoing campaign against online scam operations, and the effort uncovered direct links between 72 of those casinos and fraudulent activities that prompted decisive regulatory responses.
Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith submitted a detailed report on these findings to the Cabinet meeting held on July 24 2026, and the document outlined how the inspections had identified widespread involvement in scam-related operations while also documenting parallel enforcement actions that included raids on 737 separate scam centers and the deportation of more than 21,100 individuals connected to those centers.
Scope of the Inspection Program
Authorities examined every licensed casino operating within Cambodia's borders during the twelve-month period, and this comprehensive approach allowed officials to map connections between physical casino properties and the broader network of online fraud schemes that had been expanding across the region; the review process combined on-site visits with financial record analysis and operational audits that revealed patterns of activity consistent with money laundering and scam facilitation.
Prime Minister Hun Manet received the report at the July Cabinet session and noted that the findings represented a significant advancement in the government's efforts to sever links between licensed gambling establishments and criminal enterprises, while the coordinated raids and deportations conducted alongside the inspections demonstrated the scale of enforcement activity undertaken during the same timeframe.
Outcomes and Regulatory Actions
Of the 72 casinos found to have connections to online fraud, nineteen had their operating licenses revoked outright, thirty received suspensions that halted their activities pending further review, and twenty-three ceased operations once their existing licenses reached expiration without renewal; these measures reduced the total number of active licensed casinos and removed several properties from the regulatory framework that had previously allowed them to function.
The report detailed how inspectors traced financial flows and communication records that tied casino operations to scam centers located both inside and outside the country, and the evidence gathered during these examinations supported the subsequent license decisions that followed established regulatory procedures for addressing criminal involvement in the gambling sector.
Enforcement teams conducted simultaneous raids on 737 identified scam centers throughout the crackdown period, and these operations yielded additional evidence that reinforced the findings from the casino inspections while also leading to the removal of more than 21,100 foreign nationals who had participated in the fraudulent schemes; the deportations formed a core component of the strategy to dismantle the infrastructure supporting online scams that had used Cambodian territory as a base.
Context Within Broader Enforcement Efforts
The one-year inspection initiative aligned with Cambodia's wider policy to address the growth of online fraud that had drawn international attention, and government agencies coordinated across multiple ministries to ensure that both casino licensing and physical raid operations targeted the same underlying criminal networks; this integrated method produced measurable results in the form of revoked and suspended licenses alongside the large-scale removal of individuals tied to scam activities.
Data compiled in the report submitted by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith showed clear correlations between certain casino properties and the operational hubs used for online scams, and the findings provided the factual basis for the regulatory actions that reduced the number of active casinos from the original total of 195 to a smaller group that had passed the scrutiny process without identified links to fraud.
Conclusion
The July 2026 Cabinet presentation marked the formal conclusion of the inspection phase that ran from June 2025 through June 2026, and the documented outcomes included the revocation of nineteen licenses, the suspension of thirty others, and the non-renewal of twenty-three additional licenses that had allowed twenty-three more casinos to close; these steps, combined with the 737 raids and the deportation of over 21,100 people, formed the core results of Cambodia's targeted campaign against online scam operations connected to its licensed casino industry. The full report provides the primary source for these figures and actions.