Inspections across 195 licensed casinos in Cambodia revealed 72 facilities allegedly involved in online fraud, according to a Cambodian government press release cited by China’s Xinhua news agency.
The Cambodia-China Times, a Chinese-language news outlet, separately reported that, following official inspections, 72 casino venues ceased operations.
Xinhua said the government announcement mentioned that between June 2025 and June this year, Cambodian authorities raided 737 suspected online-scam centres across a variety of locations.
The operation involved inspection at 28,512 sites, according to the update.
A report on the year-long nationwide crackdown on telecom fraud, which the Cambodia-China Times said it had obtained, indicated that, of the 72 casinos that ceased operations, 19 had their licences revoked for involvement in online fraud, another 30 had their licenses suspended, and 23 casinos ceased operations due to their licenses expiring.
The local news outlet reported that in the circa 12 months to June 30 this year, authorities investigated 665 locations allegedly involved in online fraud. Of those, 582 were alleged sites of criminal activity and 83 were suspected hideouts for criminals. Following the action, 537 locations had been shut down.
According to the Xinhua report, “as of June 30, 2026” at total of “21,102 foreigners of 38 nationalities had been deported from Cambodia”. The statement seemingly linked that to the crackdown action.
Law-enforcement officials also referred 268 cases to the court system, involving a total of 2,773 suspects, per the report.
Earlier this month, officials from Cambodia’s casino regulator, the Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC), discussed preparations for nationwide casino evaluations aimed at ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, as well as the body’s “regulatory priorities” for the second half of this year, according to the Khmer Times.
A recent report from the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) suggested cyber scam hubs in Southeast Asia partly had their origins in the “collapse” of portions of the gambling industry in the region, due to Covid-19 -related travel restrictions beginning in early 2020.
