{"id":24493,"date":"2021-11-12T11:44:19","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T14:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=24493"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:53:02","slug":"money-laundering-risk-has-increased-in-cambodian-casinos-the-u-s-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/money-laundering-risk-has-increased-in-cambodian-casinos-the-u-s-says","title":{"rendered":"Money-laundering risk has increased in Cambodian casinos, the U.S. says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authorities in the US say the surge in Cambodian casino licences has increased the risk of money laundering and other financial crimes in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cambodia.- A joint report made by the US Department of State, US Department of the Treasury and US Department of Commerce has expressed concerns about the risk of money laundering and other financial crimes in Cambodia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the advisory note, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that between 2014 and 2019, Cambodia\u2019s casino licences increased by 263 per cent, although the government\u2019s 2020 online gambling ban limited this growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts added: “However, the increase in casinos over the past decade outpaced regulators\u2019 capacity to monitor and police these establishments, attracting organised crime elements that invest in casinos and use them to launder money.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2019, the\u00a0Financial Action Task Force<\/a>\u00a0(FATF), a global financial regulator headquartered in Paris, France, noted that Cambodia is still on the \u201cstrategic anti-money laundering [AML] and combating terrorism financing [CFT] deficiencies\u201d country list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cambodia is still “graylisted” by the FATF, although it has said that Cambodian authorities have recognised problems related to new casinos and other commercial enterprises in\u00a0Sihanoukville<\/a>, where most of the casinos are located.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US government memorandum further stated: \u201cThe government established an inter-ministerial task force to investigate alleged money laundering and human trafficking. The task force has not issued a report on its findings, as of October 2021.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, China and Cambodia<\/a> renewed their existing cooperation agreement on cross border gambling. China\u2019s Minister of Public Security and Cambodia\u2019s Minister of Interior<\/strong> agreed to continue tackling cross-border crimes, including illegal online gambling<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Cambodia banned online gambling which led to the subsequent closure of many casinos and other entertainment venues. However, as the Cambodian economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the problem remains and may increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities in the US say the surge in Cambodian casino licences has increased the risk of money laundering and other financial crimes in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"A joint US government report highlights a significant increase in money laundering and financial crime risks in Cambodia, primarily driven by a 263% surge in casino licenses between 2014 and 2019, which outpaced regulatory oversight capacity. Despite Cambodia's 2020 online gambling ban and renewed cooperation with China on cross-border crime, the nation remains on the FATF's \"graylist\" for strategic AML\/CFT deficiencies, posing ongoing challenges for industry stakeholders and international financial integrity.","focusai_entities":"US Department of State, US Department of the Treasury, US Department of Commerce, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Financial Action Task Force, China's Minister of Public Security, Cambodia's Minister of Interior","focusai_location":"Cambodia, United States, France, Sihanoukville, China","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.8)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"FATF Graylist Impact","query":"What specific actions or reforms are required for Cambodia to be removed from the FATF \"graylist,\" and what is the projected timeline for such compliance?"},{"label":"Cross-Border Enforcement","query":"How will the renewed cooperation agreement between China and Cambodia specifically enhance enforcement mechanisms against illegal online gambling and associated financial crimes, particularly concerning capital flows?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,158,16333],"tags":[229],"class_list":["post-24493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24493"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24508,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24493\/revisions\/24508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}