Cambodia's Ban on Casino-Streamed Online Gambling Takes Effect: 24 Casinos Verified, Nationwide Inspections Ordered

October 13, 2026By Baccarat.gg Staff

Cambodia's suspension of online gambling streamed from its casinos, announced in September, is now in force. The government's anti-scam commission says 24 casinos in three provinces had stopped by the September 30 deadline and dismantled their equipment, and on October 7 the state news agency reported that joint inspection teams will visit casinos in all 16 provinces that host them, starting this month.

At a Glance

  • Deadline for ending casino-based online gambling: September 30, 2026
  • 24 casinos verified as having stopped: 12 in Preah Sihanouk, 7 in Banteay Meanchey, 5 in Svay Rieng (commission statement, reported by the Phnom Penh Post, October 1)
  • Multi-agency inspections of casinos in 16 provinces from October 2026, agreed at a meeting of the anti-scam commission's secretariat and the gambling regulator (AKP, October 7)
  • Separately, 18 casino licences revoked and 9 suspended over scam links as of September; more than 600 scam locations cleared

What Stopped on September 30

The order, announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Sokha on September 5 and attributed to Prime Minister Hun Manet, suspended the online gambling that licensed casinos had been running from their premises: live-streamed table games, online football betting, online lotteries and online betting on bird fights. Our September report covered the announcement and the anti-scam campaign behind it.

On October 1 the Phnom Penh Post reported a statement from the secretariat of the Commission for Combating Technology-enabled Scams saying that officials, working with the Commercial Gambling Management Commission of Cambodia and provincial authorities, had verified that at least 24 casinos stopped their online operations by the deadline: 12 in Preah Sihanouk province, home of Sihanoukville, 7 in Banteay Meanchey on the Thai border and 5 in Svay Rieng on the Vietnamese border. Inspections confirmed that the streaming and betting equipment had been removed. The statement warned that action would be taken against violators "without exception or leniency."

The same report put the wider enforcement tally at 18 casino licences revoked and 9 suspended pending investigation for links to scam operations, and more than 600 scam locations cleared. Cambodia has close to 200 licensed casinos; how many of them had offered online play before the ban was not stated.

Inspections in Every Casino Province

A week later the enforcement widened. On October 7 Agence Kampuchea Presse, the state news agency, reported that the secretariat of the Commission for Combating Online Scams and the gambling regulator had met the previous afternoon to organize joint inspections of physical casinos across the 16 capital and provincial jurisdictions that host them, beginning in October. The teams draw on the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, the General Commissariat of National Police, the General Department of Immigration, provincial unified command units and provincial prosecutors.

Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith, the commission's standing vice chairman and head of its secretariat, said the government "will not stop here" and would keep taking tough measures against locations linked to online scams. He described unregulated online gambling as a form of technology-enabled scam, to be pursued under the anti-scam law promulgated in April and the anti-money-laundering law. Yeth Vinel, secretary-general of the Commercial Gambling Management Commission, speaking for Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth, said any casino found running unauthorized online gambling would face administrative sanctions from the regulator and criminal referral.

The agency placed the campaign in an international frame: at a conference on online scams held in Phnom Penh on September 23 and 24, close to 30 countries and organizations adopted an eleven-point Phnom Penh Declaration against transnational cybercrime.

What It Means for Live Baccarat

For years, casinos in Sihanoukville and the border towns were a source of live-dealer baccarat streamed to players across Asia outside any regulated market. That supply has now been switched off by law, with the Philippines' offshore gaming ban of October 2025 already in force next door. The inspections announced for October are designed to keep it off: a casino that resumes streaming risks its licence and a criminal case, not a fine.

The effect on players is simple. The grey-market tables that used to appear on unlicensed sites with Cambodian backdrops will thin out, and the live baccarat that remains available to players in Asia will come, more and more, from studios that answer to a regulator.

Why It Matters for Baccarat Players

An online baccarat table is only as safe as the licence behind it. Two of Southeast Asia's grey-market hubs have closed within twelve months, and the casinos that remain are being inspected to make sure they stay closed. A player who checks the licence before the first deposit, and plays only at tables streamed by a studio that names its regulator, is not affected by any of this. A player who does not is now betting at tables that may disappear with the next inspection.

Sources

Editor's note: The inspection sweep, the officials and their words are from the state news agency's report of October 7, 2026. The count of 24 casinos and the licence tallies come from a commission statement as reported by the Phnom Penh Post on October 1; we did not find the statement itself, and the newspaper did not say how many casinos had offered online play before the deadline. Both pages were read on October 13, 2026. The two commissions appear under slightly different English names in the two reports; we have used each report's wording. DragonTiger.gg covers the same decision from its own side. Read how we source our reporting.