Cambodia Imposes New Gaming Legislation
Cambodia has carried out a new casino industry regulation that will provide customers and companies with fairer and more open gaming laws.
Casino Regulations Reinforce Cambodia
Cambodia is trying to reform what's an obsolete regulatory system for the casino industry. To this end, in October, the National Assembly of Cambodia passed a law to help create a consistent framework and encourage audits against money laundering and recognise verifications, a recommendation made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
The National Assembly adopted the new system with an vast majority of 114 out of 117 votes and the approval of the Senate of Cambodia.
However, the law only came into force on Saturday, November 14, as stated by Ros Phirun, Ministry of Economics and Finance, Deputy Director of Cambodia.
Cambodia is not only trying to upgrade a ossified regulatory system, explained Phirun, but also to allow the Law on the Management of Integrated Resorts and Commercial Gambling (LMCG) to improve tourism in the country and stimulate economic development.
Something similar is happening in Macau where the government is seeking to diversify its revenues away from taxes from casinos.
The nation has seen tough times with the government regulating its gaming business deciding to close down online activities, not least because of China, and seeing some 7,700 Cambodians losing their jobs.
As with all other countries, Cambodia was further affected by the global pandemic, forcing a closure on all brick-and-mortar casino assets in April but restarting operations back in July.
What Is Cambodia's New Legislation?
Cambodia will continue to benefit from the enacted regulatory amendments, with the bill currently targeting VIP gaming tax of 4 percent and recreational vertical tax of 7 per cent.
The proposed legislation will be implemented by a new authority, known as the Integrated Resort Management and Commercial Gambling Committee.
The watchdog will have 11 ministers in government to be shortlisted and approved earlier. Cambodia will now designate pre-approved special zones where gambling activities will take place as well as allocate restricted operational areas.
The nation would also grant a special "favored zone" status, meaning the government will allow potential gambling operations there.
Cambodia's latest legislative system is the country's first effort to introduce legislation that allow authorities to control gambling equally and aim for fairer gaming conditions for all.
A similar opinion was shared by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Aun Pornmoniroth, who said all those reforms were introduced with the sole intention of allowing gaming operators to work under a fair and unbiased regulation.
