Gambling in Cambodia for Tourists

Where visitors can legally gamble in Cambodia

If you are visiting Cambodia with a foreign passport, the short answer is that you can gamble at any licensed casino in the country. Cambodia legalized casinos decades ago and built the industry specifically around foreign visitors, so the doors are open to you in a way they are not for locals⁴.

The industry is spread across a handful of provinces. Casinos operate in Phnom Penh, Banteay Meanchey, Svay Rieng, Kampot, Pailin and Preah Sihanouk, with the heaviest concentration in the border towns¹. The logic is geographic: Cambodia placed most of its casinos along its borders to draw gamblers from neighboring countries where casinos are scarce or illegal.

The main clusters break down like this:

• Poipet, on the Thai border. These casinos cater to Thais, thousands of whom cross the border at weekends to gamble, along with visitors from China, South Korea and Malaysia⁵. See casinos in Poipet.
• Bavet, on the Vietnamese border, pulling in Vietnamese visitors the same way⁶.
• Sihanoukville and Koh Kong, on the coast, where resort casinos sit in popular tourist areas and are open to anybody with a foreign passport². See casinos in Sihanoukville.
• Phnom Penh, where NagaWorld holds the license. See casinos in Phnom Penh.

NagaWorld's position is unusual: it holds an exclusive right to operate a casino in the capital and within a 200 kilometer (124 mile) radius of the city, with exceptions for the Cambodia-Vietnam border area, Bokor, the Kirirom Mountains and Sihanoukville⁷. In practice, that means if you are staying in or around Phnom Penh, NagaWorld is the casino, and it operates as a full casino hotel with rooms and suites⁸.

For a broader picture of the whole market, see gambling in Cambodia.

Who may take part

The dividing line in Cambodia is nationality, not residency. Foreigners and tourists are allowed to gamble at regulated gaming venues⁹, and the market is legally restricted entirely to foreigners and tourists¹⁰. It does not matter whether you are a short-stay visitor or a long-term expat with a foreign passport: what matters at the door is the passport itself.

Cambodian citizens are on the other side of that line. The Law on the Management of Integrated Resorts and Commercial Gambling bans all Cambodian people, including members of the armed forces, public servants and elected officials, from entering casinos or commercial gaming facilities to gamble¹¹. Cambodians caught gambling face fines and possible detention¹⁰, and internal security officers have been stationed outside casinos to perform checks and stop locals from entering¹². The one gray area is dual citizens: Cambodians holding two passports have been treated as able to gamble legally¹³.

There are two other entry restrictions worth knowing. Access to casinos is strictly prohibited for individuals under the age of 18 and for persons with criminal records¹⁴. So the door check is not only about nationality.

Which casinos are licensed for foreigners

Every licensed casino in Cambodia caters exclusively to foreign nationals¹⁵, so in one sense the answer is "all of them." There are over 75 casinos in the country that cater exclusively to foreign nationals¹⁵, and the practical question is which cluster suits your trip.

A few names worth knowing:

• NagaWorld in Phnom Penh, the capital's licensed casino, operating as a casino hotel with rooms and suites⁸. We cover it in detail at NagaWorld.
• Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort, near the Vietnamese border, a casino that caters only to foreign passport holders¹⁶. See our Ha Tien Vegas Entertainment Resort page.
• Star Vegas Casino in Poipet, one of the bigger border-town operations¹⁷.
• Golden Sand Hotel and Casino in Sihanoukville, one of the coastal resort properties⁶.

The border casinos in Poipet are weekend-driven places, busiest when Thai visitors cross in numbers⁵. The coastal and capital properties are more resort-like, aimed at travelers who are already in the country. For a full rundown by location, see casinos in Cambodia.

One thing to be aware of: the government has at times paused new casino development in certain provinces, such as Kep and Kampot¹¹, and the industry keeps an eye on neighboring Thailand, whose own casino plans could reshape border traffic¹. The existing licensed venues are unaffected by this for visitors.

Games and products you will find in Cambodian casinos

The game mix in Cambodian casinos is familiar to anyone who has played in Asia. Popular games include traditional options like blackjack, poker and roulette, plus slot machines¹⁸. Baccarat dominates the live tables in most Asian casinos, and Cambodia is no exception; see baccarat in Cambodia and dragon tiger, two of the most common table games in the region.

A few specifics:

• Table games. Blackjack, roulette and poker are widely available¹⁸. Poker in particular is permitted for foreign visitors at any of the country's casinos¹⁷; see poker in Cambodia.
• Slots. Machine floors are standard across the bigger properties¹⁸. See slot machines in Cambodia.
• Bingo. Bingo is legal for foreign visitors to play in Cambodia, and is available at several land-based casinos, including in Poipet at the Star Vegas Casino, in Siem Reap and in Phnom Penh¹⁷. It is illegal for Cambodians to participate in or host bingo games, so these are foreign-only floors¹⁷.
• Group games. One restriction to note: games that cater to groups of people are prohibited under the rules that governed the sector's reopening¹⁹. Ask at the table if you are unsure whether a shared game is offered.

For a fuller guide to the game selection, see casino games in Cambodia.

Online gambling options for visitors

Online gambling in Cambodia is a much murkier picture than the land-based side. Online gambling is essentially banned in the country, and the jurisdiction functions almost exclusively as a casino and integrated resort jurisdiction³. What exists is limited online play for strictly foreign players, heavily restricted³.

In practice, many players in Cambodia use offshore casino sites. These are usually licensed in jurisdictions like Panama, Anjouan, Mwali, Curaçao, the Isle of Man or Malta⁹, and they carry large game libraries, often more than ten thousand titles from providers such as Play'n GO, Pragmatic Play, NetEnt, PG Soft and Evolution⁹. Payments on these sites run through local bank transfers, international payment gateways and e-wallets¹⁹, and crypto is common, with Tether, Bitcoin and Ethereum the top choices, followed by Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Binance Coin⁹.

The honest position for a visitor is this: the regulation of online betting sits in a complex legal environment, and players are responsible for ensuring that online betting with international operators is allowed under the rules that apply to them²¹. Cambodia banned online gambling by policy in 2019⁶, and unlicensed online gambling sites remain a running concern for the authorities²². If you play online while in the country, you are doing so on an offshore site at your own risk. See online gambling in Cambodia for more detail.

Planning a first casino visit

A first visit to a Cambodian casino is straightforward if you come prepared. Here is what to know before you go.

Bring your passport. This is the one non-negotiable. A foreign passport is required to enter a casino in Cambodia², and casinos may also request your visa under the country's gambling regulations¹⁶. Ha Tien Vegas, for example, states plainly that it caters only to foreign passport holders and may request your passport and visa¹⁶. Carry the actual document, not a photo, because door staff check it against your face.

Expect a door check. Because locals are barred, casinos check nationality at entry, and security officers have been stationed outside casinos to perform checks¹². This is routine, not personal. Have your passport ready as you approach.

Check the age rule. You must be over 18; under-18s are strictly prohibited from entry¹⁴.

Hours. Opening hours vary by property, so check with the casino before you go. Border casinos tend to be busiest on weekends when cross-border visitors arrive in numbers⁵.

Money. Casinos in tourist resort areas such as Koh Kong and Sihanoukville are open to anybody with a foreign passport², and the bigger properties operate as full resorts with hotels attached, so you can stay and play in one place. NagaWorld in Phnom Penh is a casino hotel with rooms and suites⁸. For how to move money in and out, see gambling payments in Cambodia.

Where to go by trip type. The right venue depends on where your trip takes you.

A little background

Cambodia's casino industry is a story about geography. From the late 1990s, the country began developing the sector by allowing casinos to be built in border towns and resort destinations like Sihanoukville, all to attract foreign tourists, while its own citizens were banned from gambling⁶. The government established the border areas for casino construction and allowed some in Phnom Penh¹¹.

The result is an industry with two faces. On one side, more than 75 casinos catering exclusively to foreign nationals¹⁵, many of them weekend businesses sustained by Thai and Vietnamese visitors whose own countries restrict gambling⁵. On the other, a strict domestic ban: gambling in any form is illegal for Cambodian citizens, and the law prohibits all Cambodians from gambling inside casinos while all forms of gambling remain illegal outside them¹¹. Cambodians are permitted a narrow exception through government-sponsored gaming, including five privately run national lotteries²⁰.

The modern framework was consolidated by the Law on the Management of Integrated Resorts and Commercial Gambling, enacted in 2020, which tightened control of the sector and formalized the ban on locals¹¹. Online gambling was banned by policy in 2019⁶, pushing the online side of the market offshore, where it largely remains⁹. For the full legal picture, see gambling laws in Cambodia.