The Dark Side of Cambodia’s Gaming Industry

For years, Cambodia has been a growing hub for online gambling, attracting significant foreign investment. However, this rapid expansion has come at a devastating human cost. A new investigation by Amnesty International exposes a systemic link between licensed casinos and clandestine scamming compounds, where vulnerable individuals are subjected to unimaginable cruelty. The findings raise serious questions about the Cambodian government’s commitment to combating human trafficking and protecting its citizens and foreign nationals alike.

Analysis of official licensing documents issued by Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC) demonstrates that casino owners are directly connected to buildings and locations where documented human rights abuses have occurred in at least twelve separate instances. This corroborates harrowing testimony from survivors who recount being confined and abused while physically present on casino property.

The CGMC recognized casino plans in December 2025 and January 2026 – a period coinciding with the nation’s declared crackdown on scamming compounds. Among the approved businesses are three Crown casinos owned by Anco Brothers Co. Ltd., a powerful Cambodian conglomerate. This apparent contradiction fuels concerns that regulators are actively legitimizing companies implicated in grave human rights violations.

“This research establishes a clear link between Cambodia’s licensed casinos and its scamming compounds,” stated Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Co-Regional Director. “At a time when the government claims to be dismantling the scamming industry, the evidence shows it is simultaneously recognizing plans for casino properties where abusive scamming compounds operate. This raises urgent questions about whether Cambodian regulators are legitimizing companies linked to grave abuses. The authorities must explain why casinos with documented links to trafficking and torture continue to receive official approval. Every day that these casinos remain licensed is another day in which people on casino property are at risk of human rights abuse.”

Casinos Recognized Despite Scamming Links

Between December 2025 and January 2026, the CGMC reviewed and approved plans submitted by casino operators. These included Crown casinos in Poipet, Bavet, and Chrey Thum, as well as the Majestic Two and Majestic Hotel & Casino in Sihanoukville. Notably, the former chairman of Majestic Hotel & Casino was charged in January 2026 with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organized crime, and money laundering.

Detailed maps published by the CGMC depict casino complexes, outlining buildings used for gaming, rentals, guest accommodations, and general facilities. By comparing these official maps with satellite imagery and information gathered from Amnesty International’s site visits and survivor testimonies – including their June 2025 report on scamming compounds – Amnesty International identified eleven instances where compounds profiled in the earlier report were located within the CGMC-recognized casino complexes.

In all documented cases, the same companies had operated the casinos since at least 2022. All survivor testimony detailing confinement, torture, and enslavement within scamming compounds occurred from 2022 onwards.

Amnesty International further linked the Crown Bavet Casino to recent evidence of human rights abuse. In January 2026, interviews with two Kenyan nationals revealed they were subjected to forced labor and deprived of their liberty at the casino complex, one until December 2025. Both individuals identified buildings and the Crown logo through photographs taken while confined. One specifically identified building 15 on the CGMC map – designated as a “residential and office building” – as their place of confinement.

“The Children in the Room Were Crying”

Between 2024 and 2026, Amnesty International interviewed survivors who were able to pinpoint specific buildings within casino complexes where they were held captive. Two survivors recounted their confinement at the Crown Resorts complex in Poipet, where they endured months of abuse, including threats with electric shock batons, and were coerced into opening bank accounts suspected of being used for money laundering. They identified a door and “Crown Casino” sign in a Google Streetview image, confirming their route into captivity.

One survivor, overcome with emotion, recalled: “The guards would enter the room and trigger the shock batons… it made a terrible sound. The children in the room were crying.” The building where she was tortured is marked as “Restaurant and Office Buildings” on the Crown Resorts map in Poipet.

Another survivor, trafficked to Cambodia as a child, was held in two casino complexes recently recognized by the CGMC. Known as Sawat (not his real name), he was first confined in building 9 of the Crown Chrey Thom map, designated as a “Hotel and office,” and later transferred to the New Venetian Casino in Bavet, operated by the New Venetian Resort Co., Ltd.

At the New Venetian site, Sawat endured torture in a dark room on the eighth floor of “building E” before being threatened with a “last meal” in 2024. He escaped by jumping from a window, losing consciousness before receiving medical attention. Building E is identified as a “Hotel” on the CGMC-approved map. During a site visit, Amnesty International observed a sign reading “The New Venetian Casino and Resort” at the gate to Buildings C, D, and E.

A Systemic Pattern Demanding Accountability

In addition to the Crown casinos and The New Venetian casino, Amnesty International confirmed the following CGMC-recognized casino buildings were located within the same complexes as scamming compounds documented in its June 2025 report. Deprivation of liberty was documented in all locations, among other abuses:

• Casino Kyom (My casino), operated by Zhou Cheng K.P. Hotel Co. Ltd., a Cambodian company with links to China; linked to scamming compound KA02.
• Marinan International, operated by Marinan International Co., Ltd., a Cambodian company with links to China; linked to scamming compound PO07 where evidence of human trafficking and forced labour was documented.
• Peak Casino, operated by Conglomerate Development Group Co., Ltd., a Cambodian company; linked to scamming compound SI12.
• Majestic Hotel & Casino and Majestic Two, both operated by Big House Commercial Corporation, a Cambodian company with links to China; linked to scamming compounds SI15 and SI16, respectively, where evidence of human trafficking, forced labour, child labour and enslavement were documented.
• Long Feng Xuan Casino, operated by Long Feng Xuan Co., Ltd., a Cambodian company whose sole director is based in China; linked to scamming compound SI20.
• Huang (or Wang) Chao International, operated by Bao Shi International Entertainment Co., Ltd., a Cambodian company; linked to scamming compound SI32.
• Golden Sea Casino, operated by King Golden Sea Corp Ltd., a Cambodian company; linked to scamming compound SI50 where evidence of human trafficking, forced labour and torture was documented.

Amnesty International has evidence that the documented human rights abuses occurred within buildings designated as part of the casino complexes recognized by the CGMC. Further accounts of human rights abuse connected to at least three of these casino complexes have been verified since the publication of the June 2025 report.

“The scale and industrialized nature of abuse documented in these Cambodian casinos makes clear that this is a high-risk sector that demands investigation and accountability at every level of the corporate chain,” Ferrer emphasized.

“The Cambodian government must immediately suspend the gambling licenses of these casinos and conduct a full, independent, and transparent investigation into the violations documented at these sites. It should also investigate all those suspected of individual responsibility for crimes under international law or other gross human rights violations, including the owners, financiers, and operators of these casinos.”

Context and Previous Findings

In June 2025, an Amnesty International report revealed that over 50 scamming compounds across Cambodia were sites of widespread slavery, human trafficking, forced labor, torture, and other human rights abuses, operating as prison-like facilities controlled by organized criminal groups. The report concluded that Cambodian authorities had failed to prevent or address these violations, with evidence suggesting state complicity or deliberate inaction that allowed the industry to flourish. Nearly half of the 53 scamming compounds identified in the June 2025 report were linked to a casino.

In July 2025, the Cambodian government announced a nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds. The CGMC has taken some enforcement actions, such as the suspension and sealing of four casinos in Preah Sihanouk province in November 2025.

As outlined in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, all businesses – including casino operators – have a responsibility to respect human rights, independent of the state’s duty to protect against human rights abuses. Where casino premises facilitate the detention, coercion, and exploitation of trafficked workers, operators and property owners may face legal exposure under Cambodian, transnational, and international law if evidence demonstrates they knowingly assisted in trafficking, enslavement, or torture.

Amnesty International contacted the CGMC and all implicated companies to request responses to the allegations. As of publication, none have responded.

What further steps can international organizations take to support victims and pressure the Cambodian government to address this crisis? And what responsibility do tech companies have in preventing the online infrastructure used by these criminal enterprises?

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