Cambodia Reviews 100+ Casinos as Hun Manet Calls for Fewer Venues
Hun spoke at the opening of Luang Me Hospital in Phnom Penh. He questioned whether Cambodia needs its current number of casinos and said a working group had been set up to look at the sector. The review will cover casino licensing requirements. The Star reported the remarks on September 16.
Siem Reap will remain closed to casino development. Hun said the government had received requests from investors but would not issue licenses in the province.
Cambodia Wants Fewer Casinos
Cambodia still has more than 100 casinos in operation. Hun said the number should come down gradually. He also pointed to older projects that had been allowed to operate on a much smaller scale than would now be accepted.
The license review comes after months of action against casinos linked to online scam cases. On September 8, Cambodian authorities said 18 casino licenses had been revoked and nine suspended in the latest enforcement update. The government announcement gave the September figures.
Those cases form part of a wider campaign that began in 2025.
Online Gambling Has an October Deadline
Hun also repeated the government's October cutoff for online gambling operated from land-based casinos. The October date itself was already known before his September 16 speech. Interior Minister Sar Sokha had announced earlier in the month that these operations would be suspended from October. Hun repeated the deadline on September 16, linking the measure to online scams and illicit financial flows. Xinhua reported his comments the same day.
Hun's speech therefore added a separate issue: how many casinos Cambodia intends to keep.
72 of 195 Casinos Were Hit by Earlier Changes
Official figures give some scale to what has already happened. Authorities inspected 195 licensed casinos during the nationwide anti-scam campaign.
An August government update recorded:
- 20 licenses revoked;
- 29 licenses suspended;
- 23 casinos with expired licenses or businesses that ceased operating.
Together, those three groups total 72 casinos. The Cambodian government published the breakdown in August.
That equals 36.9% of the 195 casinos inspected, based on 15M's calculation. The figure is not the share of today's operating casino market. It compares the 72 affected properties with the full 195-casino inspection pool.
The September review starts from a smaller base: Hun said more than 100 casinos are still operating.
$100M Requirement Was Already on the Books
Hun referred to a $100 million minimum investment while discussing the standards expected from casino projects. The amount itself is not new.
Cambodia introduced a minimum-capital framework under Sub-Decree No. 166 in 2021. It set the requirement at KHR400 billion, about $100 million, for ordinary casinos and KHR800 billion, about $200 million, for integrated commercial gambling centres. Sithisak Law Office detailed the requirements when the sub-decree was introduced.
Existing operators were given a transition period toward the full requirement. The September 16 announcement is about the next step: reviewing the remaining casino base and deciding how many licenses Cambodia needs.
For operators, October is the nearest fixed date. The size of the land-based market after the license review is still unresolved.