Sihanoukville set to become Cambodia’s top casino hub

Chinese gaming operators are rapidly transforming Cambodia’s southern coastal city of Sihanoukville into the country’s leading casino hotspot.

This weekend, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on the construction boom engulfing Sihanoukville, with new factories, hotels and condo towers dotting an increasingly crowded skyline thanks to the ongoing influx of Chinese investment capital.

Gambling venues are also breeding like bunnies. According to Ministry of Finance spokesperson Ros Phirun, Sihanoukville currently has 16 operational casinos, and nine more are expected to open in 2018.

Phirun said most of the Chinese-backed gaming operators “come to do online gambling,” as licensed casinos are permitted to offer live-streamed action from land-based tables to gamblers in other countries. The local online industry got an additional boost in March via the installation of a new high-speed internet submarine cable.