Cambodia’s casinos could face legal action if they don’t halt their online gambling operations by January 1, according to a government spokesman.

On Christmas Day, VOA Cambodia quoted Finance Ministry official Ros Phearun saying that government officials would conduct inspections of local casino operators to ensure they are complying with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s August directive to rescind all online gambling licenses by the end of 2019.

This past weekend, Hun Sen confirmed that the directive was no passing fancy, telling a local festival audience that “in days to come, online gambling will completely disappear.” The August directive declared that no new online licenses would be issued and that existing licenses wouldn’t be renewed when they expired at the end of this year.

Phearun, the government’s traditional point person on gambling issues, echoed Hun Sen’s recent comments by claiming that the online gambling ban was intended to reduce money laundering by unscrupulous operators. Phearun claimed Cambodia currently lacked the technical capabilities to ensure that all operators were complying with their regulatory obligations.