History of casinos in Cambodia
Cambodia is in the continent of Asia where gambling is illegal for its citizens but legal to foreigners. The law that prohibits citizens from entering a casino was established in the year 1996 with any culprit caught subjected to monetary charges or short prison penalty charge. The first casino in Cambodia was established in 1994 and was named Nagaworld casino. This casino was first established on a boat in the capital of Cambodia. This casino has outgrown all barriers in the legal world of Cambodia casino laws to become the largest casino in Cambodia with over 200 table games and about 1000 online games.
Today there are large numbers of casino operating in Cambodia and they are mostly found in the urban areas of the country with some located on the borders of Cambodia with other countries such as Thai and Vietnamese border. The essence of establishing a casino at the Cambodia/Vietnamese border was as a result of the ban on gambling by Vietnam laws. The casino at the border gives the citizens of Vietnam an opportunity to gamble in casino located on Cambodia’s soil.
Today there are large numbers of casino operating in Cambodia and they are mostly found in the urban areas of the country with some located on the borders of Cambodia with other countries such as Thai and Vietnamese border. The essence of establishing a casino at the Cambodia/Vietnamese border was as a result of the ban on gambling by Vietnam laws. The casino at the border gives the citizens of Vietnam an opportunity to gamble in casino located on Cambodia’s soil.
Challenges of casino in Cambodia
Gambling was illegal in Cambodia and this posed threat to the casino industry in the country. Cambodia started building casino industries in the late 90’s. This casino was structured at the border of other countries and some very notorious resort and was aimed at targeting foreign nationals to gamble. During this period, Cambodians where not allowed to be seen in a casino as it was against the Cambodia’s government law.
In some popular Cambodia cities such as Sihanoukville, holding a foreign passport was all you needed to get into the casino. Cambodians always have a popular saying that gambling was a destroyer of life hence the reason why Cambodia’s citizens were banned from casinos. Furthermore, it was observed that casino in Cambodia lead to illegal crime, disputes, huge dept and intensive gambling addition which was difficult to curb.
The foreign passport which serves as a passage to entry the casino was an advantage to Cambodians who holds a dual citizenship passport while those without a foreign identity card will bribe the local police. Sometimes, the local police are also forced to arrest gamblers who won money inside the casinos to bribe them or they will be arrested. These were some of the problems casinos in Cambodia faced.
Importance of Casino to Cambodia’s Economy
From an update, casino investment has improved certain sectors of the Cambodia’s economy. One area that has greatly benefitted from this investment is the construction sector. Casino investment in cities such as bavet/poipet town and its extending to other cities such as the Preah Sihanouk province. The booming of the construction sector has also affected on steel import positively.
The several casinos in Cambodia has skyrocket in the past few years with over 70 casinos operating now in Cambodia. Citizens are benefitting from the increment because local citizens supply items such as vegetables, fish, food, drinks, and meat to meet the ever-increasing demand of investors. Aside the positive impact of casino investment on the economy and to the citizens of Cambodia, the citizens are also faced with social vices such as money laundering, fighting and human trafficking. Cambodia’s government has intensified efforts to bring in more foreign investment into the Cambodia casino industry.