Global human rights organization Amnesty International has accused the Cambodian gaming regulator of licensing multiple casino complexes despite direct recent evidence of severe human rights abuses having taken place within their confines.
In a detailed research paper released late last week, Amnesty International said it had linked a dozen casinos in Cambodia to scam compounds where torture, forced labor, child labor and human trafficking have taken place. Despite this, the organization noted that Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC) had approved the license renewal of the casinos in question in December 2025 and January 2026 – during the country’s supposed nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds
Those casinos reviewed and recognized by the CGMC included Crown casinos in the cities of Poipet, Bavet and Chrey Thum, and the Majestic Two and Majestic Hotel & Casino in Sihanoukville, whose former owner was charged in January 2026 with illegal recruitment for exploitation, aggravated fraud, organized crime and money laundering.
Most of the casinos identified by Amnesty International have links to China.
The organization was able to confirm the locations of human rights abuses by comparing official CGMC maps with satellite imagery, alongside its own visits to compounds and testimony from scores of survivors who described being on casino property while they were confined and abused.
These included two survivors who told Amnesty International they were at the Crown Resorts complex in Poipet where they were confined for months, threatened with electric shock batons and forced to open bank accounts that were likely used to launder money. The victims identified an image from Google Streetview which features a door and a sign for “Crown Casino,” saying they were taken through that door and forcibly confined inside.
Similar testimonies from other survivors were used to positively identify the casino complexes named in Amnesty International’s report, such as the New Venetian Casino in Bavet.
Amnesty International said the cases raise “urgent questions” about whether Cambodian regulators are legitimizing companies linked to grave abuses.
“The authorities must explain why casinos with documented links to trafficking and torture continue to receive official approval. Every day that these casinos remain licensed is another day in which people on casino property are at risk of being enslaved,” the organization said.
Other casinos named in the report include Casino Kyom (My casino), Marinan International, Peak Casino, Long Feng Xuan Casino, Huang (or Wang) Chao International, Golden Sea Casino.
“The scale and industrialized nature of abuse documented in these Cambodian casinos makes clear that this is a high-risk sector that demands investigation and accountability at every level of the corporate chain,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s interim Co-Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
“The Cambodian government must immediately suspend the gambling licenses of these casinos and conduct a full, independent and transparent investigation into the violations documented at these sites. It should also investigate all those suspected of individual responsibility for crimes under international law or other gross human rights violations, including the owners, financiers and operators of these casinos.”
In a previous report published in June 2025, Amnesty International identified more than 50 scamming compounds across Cambodia that were sites of widespread slavery, human trafficking, forced labor, torture and other human rights abuses and accused Cambodian authorities of failing to prevent or address these violations.
In response, the Cambodian government announced a nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds in the country, with the CGMC subsequently taking some enforcement actions such as the suspension and sealing of four casinos in Preah Sihanouk province in November 2025.
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