Cambodia Shuts Border Casino After Probe Uncovers Alleged Online Scam Activity
Cambodia’s gambling regulator has stripped a casino in the border city of Bavet of its operating licence after investigators linked the property to suspected online fraud operations, adding another name to a growing list of gaming venues caught up in the country’s anti-scam crackdown.
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The decision targets the Roxy Hotel & Casino, operated by Radiant Pearl Investment Ltd. Regulatory action followed a multi-agency inspection carried out on May 21 by local authorities and Cambodia’s Commission for Combating Online Scams.
That operation led to the detention of 25 Chinese nationals. Investigators also seized mobile phones, computers, vehicles and surveillance-related equipment from the property.
Authorities later reviewed the electronic devices and concluded that the casino had been involved in online fraud activities. The findings prompted Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission to revoke the venue’s casino licence this week.
Financial Records Requested
The case has now moved beyond regulatory enforcement.
The gambling commission has asked Cambodia’s Financial Intelligence Unit to provide information on bank accounts connected to the company’s owners and individuals previously listed as licence holders. Those findings are expected to be forwarded to prosecutors at the Svay Rieng Provincial Court as authorities consider further legal action.
The revocation is part of a wider campaign targeting businesses suspected of facilitating online scam networks, a problem that has increasingly drawn international attention to Cambodia’s casino sector.
Wider Crackdown Expands
Regulators have spent months investigating casinos believed to have connections to cybercrime and online fraud operations. Earlier this year, multiple gaming licences were either suspended or revoked as part of those efforts.
Figures reported by Chinese state news agency Xinhua illustrate the scale of the campaign. More than 250 suspected scam centres have reportedly been raided across Cambodia during the past nine months, while 91 casinos were shut down over alleged links to such activities.
The latest enforcement action arrives as human rights organisations continue to scrutinise the relationship between some licensed casino developments and criminal scam compounds operating in the region.
An April report from Amnesty International alleged that several casino-linked complexes had connections to locations where human trafficking, forced labour and other serious abuses had taken place.
Cambodian authorities have pushed back against suggestions that the country is the primary command centre for these operations. Officials overseeing anti-scam enforcement have argued that the technology infrastructure, management networks and financial systems behind many online scam syndicates are largely controlled from outside Cambodian jurisdiction.
Even so, the closure of the Bavet casino signals that regulators are continuing to focus attention on licensed gaming operators as they attempt to dismantle networks accused of using casino properties as cover for online fraud activity.
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Source: www.ggrasia.com
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