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Cambodia has spent months presenting a stronger line against cybercrime, online scam centres and illegal activity tied to casino properties. A new report from Amnesty International says the problem still runs through licensed parts of the casino sector, including sites linked to major operators and politically connected business figures.
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Amnesty International says a dozen casinos in Cambodia are directly linked to scam compounds where torture, forced labour, child labour and human trafficking have taken place. Using licensing records from the Commercial Gambling Management Commission, the group said casino owners directly control at least 12 separate properties where survivors and investigators documented abuse.
Three of those casinos are owned by Kok An, the Sino-Cambodian businessman and politician tied to Anco Brothers Co Ltd. The properties named in the report are in casino-heavy areas including Sihanoukville and border towns such as Poipet, where gambling activity has long been tied to Thai demand and cross-border traffic.
That account cuts against repeated claims from Cambodia that it is dismantling scam compounds and tightening oversight of commercial gambling. Since 2025, authorities have reported thousands of arrests tied to cybercrime, including pig butchering scams, a fraud model built around fake romance or investment relationships that later push victims into sham crypto or high-return schemes.
In January and February, Cambodian authorities said they shut down 190 scam centres, including 44 casinos allegedly involved in fraud carried out through technology systems. Officials also revoked licences tied to Prince Group Holdings. Cambodian authorities later arrested Chen Zhi and deported him to China, where he faces charges including fraud, money laundering, human trafficking and torture.
The regulator has framed that activity as proof that it wants to “strengthen regulation of the commercial gaming sector … and ensure operations are conducted lawfully”. Amnesty says the wider record tells a different story. Montse Ferrer, Co-Regional Director, said: “establishes a clear link between Cambodia’s licensed casinos and its scamming compounds. At a time when the government says it is dismantling the scamming industry, the evidence shows it is simultaneously recognising the plans for casino properties where abusive scamming compounds are run.”
Ferrer added: “If the government is serious about ending this slave-driven industry, it must investigate all scamming compounds in the country.”
UNODC recently commended Cambodia for stepping up action against cyberfraud, a criminal market estimated at about $40 billion a year. Still, the Amnesty report argues that enforcement alone has not broken the link between casino licences, scam compounds and abuse inside those properties. For the casino industry in Cambodia, that keeps regulatory risk, reputational damage and questions around enforcement very much alive.
Amnesty said licensed casino properties in Cambodia were directly tied to at least 12 scam compound sites where investigators documented abuse including forced labour, trafficking, torture and child labour.
Kok An is the Sino-Cambodian businessman and politician named in the report as the owner of three casinos linked to scam compound allegations.
Pig butchering scams are online fraud schemes where criminals build trust over time, often through romance or investment chat, before persuading victims to send money into fake platforms.
Cambodia says it has made thousands of arrests, shut down scam centres, revoked some casino licences and expanded cybercrime enforcement. Amnesty says those steps have not removed the deeper links between licensed casino properties and abuse.