Cambodia to more closely control online gambling

Cambodia, where online gambling is operated by licensed land casinos alone, and Cambodian punters are banned from participating, is to tighten monitoring, control and management of the activity by setting up a centralised server, a Ministry of the Economy official revealed this week in a media interview.

A deputy director in the Ministry, Ros Phearun said that progress was being made in passing relevant legislation, and in preparation for its passage sometime next year the Ministry is working on the technical and administrative infrastructure required to ensure compliance.

Phearun said that officials in the Ministry were liaising with the industry and online gambling regulators in other countries in order to learn from their experiences, and that the overall plan was to ensure that all transactions would pass through a centralised server system to ensure that operators were complying with the law, non-Cambodian consumers were protected, and the appropriate taxes were paid.

Phearun emphasised that any form of online betting outside of licensed casinos is prohibited in Cambodia, and warned that government and local enforcement authorities had been encouraged to pursue offenders.

He said that several large international online gambling operators had engaged with government with a view to cooperation, commenting:

“Of course, we are willing to work on it so we can manage it well and avoid any risks in the future. Now we are in the process of creating the gaming law, so right now we need to learn more about the development of the gaming industry.”

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