Cambodia's Casino Inspections Expose Widespread Involvement in Digital Fraud Schemes
Frankie Meier · Jul 30, 2026
Cambodia's Casino Inspections Expose Widespread Involvement in Digital Fraud Schemes
Cambodia conducted a nationwide inspection of all 195 licensed casinos as part of an ongoing government effort to disrupt online scam operations, and the results showed that 72 of those establishments had direct ties to fraudulent activities.
The one-year report covering June 2025 through June 2026 documented raids on 737 online scam centers along with inspections of 28,500 separate locations, and it recorded 19 license revocations plus 30 suspensions while authorities deported more than 21,100 foreign nationals suspected of involvement in these schemes.
Scope of the Inspection Process
Officials launched the inspection program to identify casinos that had shifted from traditional gaming into platforms supporting online fraud rings, and the process examined every licensed property across the country rather than targeting only known problem areas.
Inspectors checked operational records, financial flows, and physical infrastructure at each site, which allowed them to trace connections between casino operations and scam centers operating from the same premises or nearby facilities.
Numbers That Define the Crackdown
The report submitted by Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith to the July 24 Cabinet meeting listed concrete outcomes that included the revocation of 19 casino licenses and the temporary suspension of 30 others, and these actions directly addressed the 72 casinos found to have facilitated online fraud.
Raids reached 737 scam centers during the reporting period while teams inspected 28,500 locations in total, and the deportation of over 21,100 foreign nationals formed a central part of the enforcement strategy.
Government Response and Cabinet Presentation
Prime Minister Hun Manet received the report during the July 24 Cabinet meeting and described the findings as evidence of progress in the larger effort against organized online crime, and the presentation highlighted both the scale of the inspections and the results achieved through coordinated enforcement.
The document detailed how inspectors worked across multiple provinces to verify compliance, and it noted that several casinos had allowed their facilities to serve as hubs for call centers running investment scams and romance fraud operations targeting victims overseas.
International Cooperation Elements
The report emphasized expanded cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies, which helped Cambodian authorities identify scam networks that crossed national borders, and this collaboration supported the deportation process by providing documentation on individuals wanted in other countries.
Officials coordinated with regional partners to share intelligence on money flows and communication patterns, and the resulting actions disrupted several large-scale operations that had previously used Cambodian casino licenses as cover for their activities.
Operational Details from the Field
Inspection teams visited both urban and rural casino properties, and they examined everything from server rooms to staff housing areas where foreign workers had been living while running scam operations, and the process revealed that some locations had converted hotel rooms into makeshift call centers.
Data collected during the inspections showed patterns of shared ownership between certain casinos and scam centers, which led to the license actions described in the report, and authorities used these connections to justify the scale of the deportations carried out over the twelve-month period.
Conclusion
The July 2026 Cabinet presentation marked the formal close of the one-year reporting cycle, and the figures contained in the document provided a clear record of enforcement actions taken against the 72 casinos identified in the nationwide review.
Those actions, ranging from license revocations to mass deportations, reflected the government's continued focus on dismantling the infrastructure that had allowed online fraud to operate under the cover of licensed gaming establishments.