{"id":777013690,"date":"2024-03-05T08:26:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T11:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777013690"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:22:01","slug":"cambodias-prime-minister-calls-for-end-to-gambling-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/cambodias-prime-minister-calls-for-end-to-gambling-investments","title":{"rendered":"Cambodia&#8217;s prime minister calls for end to gambling investments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hun Manet is urging investors to shift their focus to other industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Cambodia.- Prime minister\u00a0<strong>Hun Manet<\/strong>\u00a0has urged investors to reconsider or halt investments in the country&#8217;s gambling sector.\u00a0Speaking at a meeting with Cambodians in Australia and New Zealand, Manet emphasised\u00a0his government&#8217;s stance against further investment in the gambling industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a local media outlet, Manet asserted that the government aims to suspend the issuance of new gambling licences and reduce or revoke existing ones due to the industry&#8217;s perceived lack of societal benefits.\u00a0He said the country needed to focus on building factories and creating employment opportunities to boost the economy and improve living standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In February, Manet issued a voice message ordering governors to\u00a0conduct thorough inspections of gambling venues\u00a0and close any operations without authorisation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week,&nbsp;<strong>Touch Sokhak<\/strong>, the deputy spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, revealed that&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/cambodia-496-arrested-for-illegal-gambling-in-first-two-months-of-2024\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">496 people were arrested in operations at 300 illicit gambling sites<\/a>&nbsp;in the first two months of the year. According to Sokhak, law enforcement authorities took legal action against 69 operations, initiating procedural cases against 194 suspects to be prosecuted in court.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hun Manet is urging investors to shift their focus to other industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":10910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has called for a cessation or reconsideration of investments in the nation's gambling sector, citing a lack of societal benefits and a strategic pivot towards manufacturing and employment generation. This directive includes plans to suspend new licensing, reduce existing permits, and intensify enforcement against illicit operations, as evidenced by recent arrests and site closures.","focusai_entities":"Hun Manet, Touch Sokhak, Ministry of Interior","focusai_location":"Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Analysis","query":"What is the projected economic impact of this policy shift on Cambodia's GDP, employment rates, and foreign direct investment, particularly concerning the revenue previously generated by the gambling sector?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution","query":"How will the Cambodian government manage the transition for existing licensed operators, specifically regarding the timeline for license revocations and the potential for compensation or structured exit strategies?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[229],"class_list":["post-777013690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013690","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=777013690"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777013703,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777013690\/revisions\/777013703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777013690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777013690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777013690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}