The price of Lexies will collapse. The Police will be upset at the donors packing up. They can’t even go back to gouging the backpackers without helmets, they won’t ever return.

You have to say Sihanoukville's decay has been far worse than most would have imagined.

Any effort by the Cambodian Government to stop Chinese criminals from destroying the place is a very positive move.

Interesting that Naga World in Phnom Penh has been a success story while the coast has been a horror story. Naga doesnt seem to have the money lenders on the floor like you see in Sihanoukville.

Its got to be gamblers getting into debt and trying to borrow money to get out of their loses hole.

Of course many dig a deeper hole as the cards don't fall their way.

Looks like a type of Mafia sorting out the non payment of debts.

Will stopping online gambling sort this out??

Have to think that its gamblers on the ground loosing their shirts and then borrowing from loan sharks that is behind the kidnapping and ransom demands.

Online gambling requires money up front to play. Closing online gambling down may be good for China dealing with an outflow of capital. However it doesn't address the punters on the ground who think they can get rich on the turn of a card - only to find they have not only lost their shirt but can't pay back the money lenders. God knows the interest rate added to loans but would think 10-20% a month is likely.

Some effort must be made to clean up the loan sharks. Thats where the problem lies.

The loan sharks ^^ do not operate independently.
They are usually part of the same triad controlled "junket" operators that bring the tour groups to the casinos.
Under "contract" by the casinos they target the gamblers in China, organise the tours, lend the money, and collect the debts.

This is where organised crime creeps into even (or especially) the high-roller gamblers visiting the most tightly regulated casino countries. It is an integral part of the business, not just opportunistic.

Losers recruited as spinach dogs to pay off the debt. Held along with passport by vegetable farmer.

Spinach dogs who don't get a roll then shackled tortured and extorted.

Final outcome - shot and dumped in the street. Or hacked into pieces and found floating in the sea or in the garbage somewhere

Vegetable farmers, spinach dogs and stacks of lettuce leaves.
Carrots being being stuck up bums and severe beatings with celery sticks too, i bet.

Horticulture is booming in Sihanoukville!

The clampdown on the Chinese online gambling operations continues throughout South East Asia:

Nearly 1,000 China nationals nabbed in Malaysia
They are believed to be online scam workers.
Updated 22 Nov, 2019
Malaysian authorities have nabbed nearly 1,000 China nationals who were believed to be working in the country with an online scam syndicate, local media reported.

The bust on Wednesday (Nov 20) by the Immigration Department in Cyberjaya was the biggest conducted this year, Bernama news agency said.

On its Facebook, department said the raid was conducted at the syndicate’s headquarters in Cyberjaya.

Immigration director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said the syndicate was operating from a six-storey building in Cyberjaya, a high-technology zone located about an hour south of Kuala Lumpur.

The raid was the end result of a month’s worth of surveillance, following complaints from the public.

The office was well secured, with guards stationed at each floor and rooms only being accessible with access cards, The Star reported.“We seized around 8,230 handphones, 174 laptops and 787 computers.

Several of our officers were injured after a group attacked and tried to break through our barricade,” Datuk Khairul said at a press conference at the department’s headquarters here.

Around 100 escaped, and “we are working with the police to track them down”, he said. A video recorded from a building nearby showed a large of group of men suddenly appearing outside a building and running across the streets.

It is known that the group has been operating in Malaysia for around six months and that the building was used as a call centre.

Investigations showed that the group targeted victims in China by offering fast and profitable returns in their investment scams.

“All were found to have entered the country via social visit passes. Nearly all could not produce their passports after being arrested.

“No representative has come forward with their documents and the Chinese embassy has been notified of developments, ” he said.
https://asianews.network/2019/11/22/nea ... -malaysia/

Cambodia PM confirms online gambling ban now just days away
BY Steven Stradbrooke ON December 22, 2019
Cambodia’s online gambling ban will take effect as promised on January 1, 2020 after the country’s leader dashed hopes of any last minute reprieve.

On Saturday, Cambodia’s Prime Minister HE declared that “in days to come, online gambling will completely disappear.” The comments appear to extinguish any hope that the PM might reconsider the directive he issued in August that all existing online gambling licenses would expire at the end of 2019 and no new licenses would be issued.

The Phnom Penh Post quoted HE telling attendees at the 8th Sea Festival in Kampot province that “if Cambodia’s economy continues to rely on online gambling, Cambodia’s national security will be compromised.” HE added that Cambodia risked becoming “a haven for money laundering” by “organized crime groups who will come to Cambodia to carry out their activities.”

Recent years had seen Cambodia issue dozens of new casino licenses, which also allowed licensees the right to launch online gambling sites. Cambodia became the Asia-Pacific region’s second-largest online gambling hub, behind only the Philippines, with most of these sites targeting customers in mainland China.

In October, Cambodia’s finance minister warned that the demise of the local online gambling industry will take a toll on the government’s treasury. On Saturday, HE said the blow to the local economy would be short-lived and that ridding itself of gambling-related crime would incentivize international investors to develop big-ticket non-gaming projects in the country.

HE’s August directive was widely viewed as a response to China’s increasingly vocal efforts to prevent gambling sites in neighboring countries from catering to mainland gamblers. In recognition of Cambodia’s ban, China agreed to “special discussions on grants to support development” of non-gaming projects in the Sihanoukville region, where many China-facing gambling sites were based.
https://calvinayre.com/2019/12/22/busin ... bling-ban/

The new license will be called an online entertainment license.
No bans last. In the last year carw with no number plates were banned, pavements were to be cleared of vendors, Illegal signs were to be removed, all signs to be in khmer first and biggest . Crack down for a week or 2 and then business as usual

Sunset nearing for online gambling in Cambodia
By Affiliate Insider - December 24, 2019
Online gambling in Cambodia will effectively become illegal from 1st January 2020, the country’s Prime Minister has confirmed.

It’s been coming -
Over the weekend, HE announced that “in days to come, online gambling will completely disappear.” All licences in the country expire at the end of 2020, meaning that the Cambodian market will effectively shut down overnight.

In August, the government announced that it would stop issuing iGaming licences to operators. An official directive was signed in a bid to address illegal gambling activities here.

Along with not issuing or renewing permits, it was mentioned that gambling regulations wouldn’t be updated either. Moreover, authorities were ordered to increase their efforts to find and deal with illegal operators.

At the time, both Cambodian players and those from abroad were being targeted by unregulated brands.
https://affiliateinsider.com/news/sunse ... -cambodia/