The short answer: online gambling is illegal in Cambodia. The government banned it in 2019 (with the prohibition taking hold from 2020) and no longer issues online gaming licences. Only land-based casinos are legal, and only for foreign passport holders - Cambodian citizens are barred from gambling under the 1996 Law on the Suppression of Gambling. Any online casino, sportsbook or crypto-gambling site “accepting Cambodia” is operating outside the law, offers you no local protection, and should be treated as high-risk.

Cambodia has two layers of gambling law. The 1996 Law on the Suppression of Gambling makes gambling by Cambodian citizens illegal. The 2020 Law on the Management of Commercial Gambling (LMCG) then created a licensed casino industry - but strictly for foreign passport holders. In practice, a foreign passport is required to gamble in a licensed casino, which is why the sector is aimed at tourists and cross-border visitors rather than locals.

Online gambling sits outside all of this. In 2019 the government moved to ban internet betting and stopped issuing online gaming licences, a decision that took effect from 2020. There is currently no legal, licensed online casino or sportsbook operating from within Cambodia.

Regulator and licensing

The Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC), a general secretariat under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, is the national regulator. It issues casino licences, approves games, licenses gaming personnel, and collects gaming taxes, and it has placed on-site offices inside licensed casinos to tighten oversight. Licensing is geared toward large land-based operators: reported minimum-capital requirements run to roughly US$100 million for a stand-alone casino and around US$200 million for an integrated resort, so the framework is built for major venues rather than online brands.

Licensed vs offshore

Licensed land-based casinoOffshore online site
Legal in CambodiaYes, foreigners onlyNo
Regulated by CGMCYesNo
Local dispute recourseLimited but existsNone
Risk levelRegulatedHigh / unprotected

Offshore sites that market to Cambodians are unlicensed. If a balance is frozen or a withdrawal refused, there is no Cambodian regulator to appeal to.

Payments locals use, and crypto

Cambodia is a heavily cash- and USD-based economy, and the National Bank of Cambodia’s Bakong system (a blockchain-based payment platform tied to bank accounts) is widely used for everyday transfers. Bakong is a legitimate payment rail - not a gambling product.

Cryptocurrency is restricted. Under NBC rules, unbacked crypto such as Bitcoin and Ether is treated as higher-risk “Group 2” assets that commercial banks may not transact in, while the NBC has signalled it may in future allow certain backed stablecoins. Access to 16 major exchanges including Binance, Coinbase and OKX was blocked in November 2024. There is no legal crypto gambling; worse, Tether (USDT) is strongly associated with the region’s illegal online-scam and offshore-gambling compounds, which have drawn UN and international scrutiny. Sending crypto to a gambling site is both illegal and dangerous.

Tax on winnings

There is no published personal tax specifically on player winnings. Tax is levied on operators: 7% on mass-market gross gaming revenue (GGR) and 4% on VIP GGR, plus 10% VAT on GGR (in force from 1 January 2023). Regulators describe the effective gaming-tax burden as close to 20%. Government casino and game-of-chance tax revenue reached about US$63.1 million in 2024, roughly 85% higher than the year before, according to the CGMC.

Safer gambling and the law

Cambodia has limited formal problem-gambling treatment infrastructure, and gambling addiction is recognised as a serious social issue. Because online and citizen gambling are illegal, there is no local licensed helpline dedicated to it; anyone struggling should seek help through general mental-health services or established international support lines. Given the legal ban and the documented links between online-gambling infrastructure and human-trafficking scam operations, the safest choice for residents is simply not to gamble online.

18+ only. Gambling can be addictive - if it stops being fun, stop. Online and citizen gambling are illegal in Cambodia.

Sources