Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

79 online gambling sites in Cambodia shut down
Lay Samean | Publication date 16 November 2021 | 20:52 ICT

The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) shut down 79 illegal online gambling websites that they said were causing harm to Cambodians and undermining social security.

In a press release on November 16, TRC said a total of 79 websites were shut down after they were found to be running illegal online gambling operations in Cambodia.

“TRC will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior and National Police, relevant authorities and all operators of telecommunications networks to ban these websites from operating illegal online gambling services,” the press release said.

TRC added that online gambling ran counter to the government’s decree issued on August 18, 2019, regarding the management of electronic gambling businesses operating in Cambodia via the internet.

“This activity causes harm to social security and to public order,” TRC said.

TRC also called on the public to report any information they have about online gambling operations via the 6789 hotline during working hours or through the TRC’s Facebook page.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ ... -shut-down
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

BREAKING NEWS: Arrest Warrant Issued in China for Suncity Boss, Alvin Chau, Who Has Casino Business in Cambodia

Macau police question junket mogul Chau after China city issues warrant
By Clare Jim
3 minute read

HONG KONG, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Macau said police were questioning Alvin Chau on Saturday, after a Chinese city issued an arrest warrant for the junket mogul, accusing him of operating gambling activities in mainland China.

The Macau government said in a statement that Chau, founder of the special administrative region's biggest junket operator Suncity, was taken to the police station in the morning, based on earlier evidence and after it received a notification about the arrest warrant from the mainland authorities.

Suncity operates VIP gambling rooms across Asia. Junket operators are go-betweens who bring high rollers to play at casinos, extending them credit and collecting on their debts.

Casino gambling is illegal in China outside Macau, the world's largest gambling hub.

Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou said on Friday their investigation had found Chau formed a junket agent network in the mainland to help citizens engage in offshore and cross-border gambling activities.

Chau also set up an asset management company in the mainland to help gamblers to make cross-border fund transfers, the Wenzhou City Public Security Bureau in the coastal city in Zhejiang province said on its Weibo account.

Chau and Suncity could not be reached by phone for comment, and did not immediately respond to email inquiries.

GGRAsia, a news outlet on the Asia casino industry, quoted a Suncity spokesperson as saying by email early on Saturday that "all businesses are normally operating in accordance with the law and under the supervision of the Macau Special Administrative Region Government."

Suncity's publicly listed entity in Hong Kong, Suncity Group Holdings Ltd (1383.HK), does not include its junket operations.

The Wenzhou authority said that as of July 2020, the "crime syndicate" led by Chau had 199 shareholder-level agents, more than 12,000 gambling agents and over 80,000 punter members.

"The amount of money involved was exceptionally large, seriously damaging our country's social management order," the security bureau said. "The security authorities urges (Chau) to surrender himself as soon as possible, in order to get a lenient treatment."

Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told Reuters, "Chau's arrest warrant is no doubt sending shockwaves through organised crime in Hong Kong and Macau, but also Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.

Douglas said Suncity has been linked to major drug traffickers and money laundering for many years.

Chau has grown Suncity from operating a high-roller table in Wynn Macau's casino in 2007 to a sprawling conglomerate with thousands of employees and businesses ranging from property to autos.

In 2019, Suncity was singled out by state-backed Chinese media which attacked online gambling for causing what it described as great harm to China's social economic order. Suncity said it did not operate any online gaming at the time.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chi ... 021-11-27/
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Chinese authorities have been watching Suncity for some time. Note that this article is from 2019:

Chinese state media target Macau's Suncity in online gambling report
By Reuters Staff
3 Min Read
July 9, 2019, Updated 2 years ago

HONG KONG, July 9 (Reuters) - Macau’s biggest junket operator Suncity, which operates VIP gambling rooms around Asia, has raked in billions of dollars in online gaming and proxy betting, causing great harm to China’s social economic order, a state backed report said this week.

The report by Economic Information Daily, was the first time a Macau junket has been singled out for online gaming activity and comes as China faces slowing growth and seeks to keep a lid on capital outflows.

Gambling is illegal in mainland China apart from in the special administrative region of Macau where Chinese nationals are able to bet in casinos.

Suncity enabled Chinese players to bet through online casinos in the Philippines and Cambodia and utilised underground banks to move capital out of the country, the report.
https://www.reuters.com/article/china-c ... NL4N24A13F
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by Flexxman »

Macau police take Alvin Chau in for questioning after mainland Chinese authorities issue arrest warrant over cross-border gambling allegations

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/soc ... rant-macau
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

123 Websites Blocked for Providing Online Gambling and Lottery Services Illegally
AKP Phnom Penh, January 31, 2022 --

The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) in cooperation with General Commissariat of National Police (GCNP) of the Ministry of Interior has blocked 123 websites upon finding out that those websites are providing online gambling and lottery services illegally in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

The action was shared by the TRC in its recent press release, adding that it also blocked 79 websites that provided similar services in November 2021.

The TRC is committed to continue to cooperate with GCNP, relevant authorities, and all telecommunications operators to remove all websites operating and providing illegal online gambling and lottery services in order to maintain public security and social order, the same source pointed out.

“In this regard, TRC would like to request the public to report to TRC through number 6789 during working hours, or through our Facebook page និយ័តករទូរគមនាគមន៍កម្ពុជា-Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia of any websites operating and providing online gambling or lottery services illegally in the Kingdom of Cambodia. TRC will keep confidential of all information reported,” the press release underlined.

By Phal Sophanith
AKP
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Is there a future for online gaming anywhere in Asia ?

Editorial: Gray matter
by Ben Blaschke
Thu 29 Jun 2023 at 19:51
What is the future of online gaming in Asia? It’s a question raised often at gaming conferences around the world yet one that is not so simple to answer, complicated by an almost universal reluctance by governments Asia-wide to bite the bullet and pursue a legalized and regulated iGaming industry.

With the exception of sports betting in Australia and New Zealand and various state-run lotteries, regulated online gaming in Asia is basically limited to the Philippines via its POGO and PIGO platforms – the former of which has been plagued by controversy in the years since its launch back in 2016. In fact, even licensed POGOs – which are permitted to operate out of the Philippines but can only provide online gaming to players based offshore (ie. not in the Philippines) – operate in a gray area at best. After all, if an operator is providing services to players in countries where the provision of such services is prohibited, then it’s not really regulated at all.

So, across the vast majority of Asia, it remains illegal to provide online gaming services to local citizens and in many cases illegal for those citizens to participate in them as well.

Not that this has stopped operators or players from doing so. Depending on who you listen to, Asia’s iGaming market is worth anywhere between US$20 billion and US$40 billion per year, although I suspect it is many multipliers more than that given the size of markets like China and India. It is also widely reported that India’s illegal cricket betting market alone is worth upwards of US$150 billion annually.

Unlike the European model, where many countries allow the provision of online gaming services by operators licensed in jurisdictions like Malta and the Isle of Man, no such model exists in Asia and no such model is likely to materialize any time soon.

As an example of just how regulators in the Asia-Pacific region view foreign-issued gaming licenses, I refer to the Regulating the Game conference held in Sydney in March, where one particular regulatory body was asked whether they are able to work with regulators in places like Curaçao (pictured) in tracking down those providing illegal services to Australians. The response was that it was hard enough tracking down the Curaçao regulator itself, let alone the operators it purports to oversee.

The reality is that, as it stands, there seems to be little appetite for governments across much of Asia to regulate online gaming. If anything, most are upping their efforts to ban it, given recent crackdowns in places like China, Cambodia and Australia. And so, while operators and various industry suppliers will continue to be drawn to the incredible riches the region’s online gaming market offers, their future looks set to remain very much grounded in the gray (or black) market.

Ben Blaschke
Managing Editor
https://www.asgam.com/index.php/2023/06 ... ay-matter/
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Re: Breaking News: Cambodian Government Closes All Online Gambling Licenses

Post by truffledog »

Online gambling should be monopolized by a new World Agency that would dedicate all its profits to erasing world hunger.
work is for people who cant find truffles
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