Cambodia bust online gambling karaoke parlor; Malaysia bust online cockfighting

Cambodian authorities have shut down a Chinese-run online gambling site operating out of a Poipet karaoke parlor.

On Wednesday, Interior Ministry officials announced that they had ordered the closure of the unlicensed online gambling business due to the operators having failed to secure the necessary paperwork. Police found 63 Chinese nationals on the property, but since all had the necessary visas, none of them were arrested.

The karaoke parlor’s owner had rented part of the property to a Chinese businessman, who reportedly had obtained government permission to operate an online gambling business but had yet to receive the official go-ahead from Finance Ministry officials.

Cambodia Daily quoted a director of the Interior Ministry’s central security department saying that the gambling business would be permitted to resume its operations once the paperwork was in order.