Cambodia casino tax revenue up 35 percent

The country collected a total of US$37.4 million in taxes from casinos in the first nine months of 2016.

Cambodia.- According to a finance ministry report, the tax revenue represents a 35 percent increase over the first nine months of 2015. The growth is the result of a number of changes that the government took to improve the efficiency and transparency of the tax system.

The largest contributor was Phnom Penh-based NagaWorld, making US$16 million from January-September 2016, 43 percent of total tax revenue. Earlier this month, Cambodia’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said that they have reached an agreement with the casino for a new tax rate on non-gaming operators.

Ros Phirun, deputy director-general of the finance industry department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said: “The new tax rate comes as a result of an audit of the casino’s business expansion and its non-gaming operations.”

Phirun believes that now that their business is fully functional both in gaming and non-gaming operations, NagaWorld has agrees to pay a new revised tax rate. “With this new revised tax for NagaWorld’s business operation, we hope to collect more tax soon when they launch their Naga2. But we have to wait and see the reality, first,” he added.