Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet has called out the international double standards around online illegal gambling.
As some countries criticize Cambodia for playing host to illegal online gambling, the country’s prime minister has hit back at the international criticism. Prime Minister Hun Manet argued that international actors are using Cambodia as a smokescreen to hide their own issues, speaking during the closing of the Extraordinary General Assembly of Cambodia Scouts in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh.
As originally reported by Khmer Times, he went on to call on those international voices to acknowledge mutual responsibility in the issue of illegal online gambling. Although Cambodia is often accused of enabling such activities, other nations are also failing to address the issues within the sector inside their own nation’s borders.
“They try to hide it and blame only Cambodia,” the prime minister said, calling out a lack of accountability and transparency among global critics.
Online gambling in Cambodia
Cambodia officially banned online gambling back in 2019, yet there are still instances of illegal gaming going on amidst underground operations. Hun Manet said that, although Cambodians might not speak out as much as others on the issue and impact of gambling, silence should not be taken for in action.
Indeed, he went on to emphasize that his country takes illegal betting seriously, rather than the perpetuated idea that the country is letting such activity go unchallenged. Instead, the prime minister argued for shared responsibility for the issues throughout the region.
The illegal online gambling activities are often thought to involve foreign nationals and transnational crime syndicates. Indeed, Cambodia is far from the only country to struggle to contain illicit activities, even when certain bets and games are banned. At home in the US, Michigan is enforcing a series of cease-and-desist orders against bad actors targeting gamblers in the state.
Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0 1.0
