Cambodia is working to develop its casino industry via the construction of further world-class integrated resorts (IRs), by offering attractive policies, including tax rates.
That is according to Khim Oudam (pictured), deputy director of licensing at the Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC) of Cambodia, in comments to GGRAsia.
As an existing casino market near to Thailand – a country poised to legalise gaming resorts, possibly next year – Mr Khim was outlining Cambodia’s own experience.
The gross gaming revenue (GGR) tax in Cambodia is “7 percent for mass market, and 4 percent for VIP,” the official mentioned. Some other taxes can be applicable for corporate entities, he added.
A panel during the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2024 gaming industry event in Macau in June, heard suggestions that Cambodia’s low GGR tax rate relative to neighbouring jurisdictions could make it an option for casino investors.
The current draft bill in Thailand proposes casino licences running for 30 years, with the possibility of renewal for a further 10 years. The proposed legislation has also suggested a gaming tax rate at 17 percent. Macau has an effective 40 percent tax on casino GGR.
The Cambodian commission official said that as of last year, Cambodia had 87 casinos, “many of them small”. A number of them are in the border towns of Bavet and Poipet, serving commonly Thai customers.
Cambodia would like to have more resorts of the standard of the NagaWorld complex, run by Hong Kong-listed NagaCorp Ltd. It has a long-life monopoly for the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, so for now, new investors would need to look at other locations within Cambodia.
NagaCorp is already focused on phase three of NagaWorld. At one stage, it was mulling spending as much as US$3.5 billion on Naga 3. After the Covid-19 pandemic, it had discussed a US$700 million budget for Naga 3. In February, management mentioned the budget might be adjusted to below that figure.
Mr Khim gave a presentation on Wednesday at the Thai Entertainment Complex Summit in the Thai capital, Bangkok. He stated in his talk: “We have only one IR in Cambodia. That’s NagaWorld.”
“Some [existing Cambodian] casinos have the potential to upgrade to be an IR. We also have some applications for new IRs,” he added.
The Cambodian official said the commission’s IR development department had set a minimum capital requirement per IR of US$500 million.
The expectation was that – as well as a casino – they would have “restaurants, shopping malls, sports centres” and other facilities.
Cambodia’s Law on Management of Commercial Gambling was developed “after more than 15 years of research” and promulgated on November 14, 2020, mentioned Mr Khim, during his presentation, outlining this provided the framework for a modern IR sector.
“We tried to learn about international standards, in order to implement them in Cambodia,” stated Mr Khim.
