Cambodia PM Orders Review Of Over 100 Casino Licences

"I am having our more than 100 casinos reviewed. Is it necessary to have so many? The conditions have now been increased. Investment must be at least $100 million," Hun Manet said, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

He contrasted that threshold with the country's earlier approach, saying licensing requirements were once low enough that "even a shophouse could become a casino," a standard he said no longer applies. 

Any future venue, he said, needs adequate supporting infrastructure, arguing the original policy intent was never to approve casinos simply for their own sake.

The review adds to a series of steps Cambodian authorities have taken this year to tighten oversight of the casino sector. 

Interior Minister Sar Sokha said last week that Hun Manet had also ordered a nationwide suspension of live-streamed online gambling operated from licensed casino properties, effective October, after authorities found that the format made it harder to trace money linked to technology-enabled scams.

Cambodia's Commercial Gambling Management Commission has been developing a new suitability framework for casino licence renewals, as part of a broader push to formalise standards across an industry that expanded rapidly over the past decade.

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Hun Manet did not give a timeline for when the licence review will conclude or how many, if any, existing casinos might be affected. 

The government has also not detailed the specific criteria the new working group will use to assess whether individual venues should keep their licences.