Cambodia's authorities carried out 1,786 crackdowns on illegal gambling during 2023 and arrested 3,155 people, Ministry of Interior spokesman Touch Sokhak said, according to figures reported by the Khmer Times on January 25, 20241.
Touch Sokhak said 1,238 of those arrested were women1. He said 165 cases of unlawful gambling involving 710 people, 153 of them women, were brought before the courts, and that authorities seized 10 vehicles, 390 motorcycles and 143 fighting roosters in connection with those cases1.
The ministry also described an administrative track that ran alongside arrests. According to Touch Sokhak, contract signing and education led 1,621 cases involving 2,445 people, 1,085 of them women, to give up unlawful gaming1.
"We see that the suspect attempted to covertly open illegal gambling dens at 712 locations in the capital and provinces by enforcing the law at 302 locations. The authorities have inspected the suspects' location between January and December 2023."
The figures cover enforcement activity rather than the number of gambling venues in Cambodia, and the report does not break the cases down by province, by type of gambling or by the legal outcome for each person arrested. The report also does not state how many of the 3,155 arrested were charged, fined or released. Those details have not been reported1.
Heng Kimhong, president of the Research and Advocacy Programme of the Cambodian Youth Network Association, told the Khmer Times that the government must forbid illegal gaming in villages to build safe village communities, and that authorities should investigate why illegal gambling persists and prosecute officials connected to it1.
What it means for players
The numbers describe enforcement against illegal gambling, not a change to what is legal. Cambodia's licensed casino sector and its rules for players are separate from the cases counted here, and the report does not say which forms of gambling the 1,786 cases involved1. For anyone in Cambodia, the practical point is that unlicensed operations, including informal dens in villages and communes, were the target of police action through 2023, and that people found at those locations were arrested and in some cases sent to court1. The report gives no information on how licensed venues, online operators or players at legal premises were affected. Background on what is permitted is set out in Cambodia's gambling law and in Can I gamble in Cambodia?. People who live in Cambodia and gamble elsewhere can find the relevant rules in gambling abroad when you live in Cambodia, and gambling help and self-exclusion in Cambodia covers support services. The report does not mention any change to penalties, licensing or the status of online gambling1.
What happens next
Interior Minister Sar Sokha will meet with the Sub-National Authority every three months to discuss crimes taking place in communes, districts and villages, Touch Sokhak said1. No dates for those meetings were given, and no further enforcement targets for 2024 have been reported1.
Sources1 sources
- 3,000 arrested last year for gambling, khmertimeskh.com
