Cambodia Braces for 2020 Budget Hit After Ban on Online Gambling

Cambodia’s Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth has discussed with the government officials about the plan to cancel all online gambling licenses by the end of 2019 and the effect this shutdown will have on the country’s 2020 budget.

Prime Minister Hun Sen issued a directive in August stating that no new online gambling licenses would be issued and that no existing licenses would be renewed when they expire at the end of this year.

The government collected $50m from the casino industry in 2018 and expects to reap the same reward this year, but Minister Pornmoniroth said this figure “will drop in 2020 because online gambling is banned.”

Ros Phearun, the deputy director-general of the financial industry department at the Ministry of Finance, said that the ministry had issued 215 gaming licenses, a significant increase from the 150 that had been issued at the end of 2018. Phearun added that most of these licenses were issued for operations based in Preah Sihanouk province.

Minister Pornmoniroth said Cambodia “needs Chinese investment, except for online gambling,” and that the ministry would “work out a new system” for Sihanoukville “to attract scrupulous Chinese investment.”