Amnesty International’s new Cambodia report has put fresh pressure on the government’s campaign against cybercrime by arguing that part of the licensed casino sector is still linked to abuse. In findings published on April 2, Amnesty said 12 licensed casino sites were directly connected to scam compounds where survivors reported torture, forced labour, child labour and human trafficking. The group said it matched official licensing records from Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission with satellite imagery, site visits and survivor testimony gathered during earlier research.
The timing makes the findings harder for Phnom Penh to brush aside. Cambodia has spent months saying it is shutting down scam centers, and in February officials claimed almost 200 sites had been sealed, with 173 senior figures arrested and 11,000 workers deported. Then, on April 3, parliament passed the country’s first dedicated cybercrime law, with prison terms of two to five years and higher penalties for organized scams and multiple victims.
Amnesty says the licensing record clashes with the crackdown
Amnesty’s central claim is that the licensing trail does not fit the government’s public message. The group said casino plans were formally recognized by the CGMC in December 2025 and January 2026, during the same period officials were presenting the crackdown as proof that Cambodia was dismantling scam operations. Amnesty said the approved businesses included three Crown casinos owned by Anco Brothers Co. Ltd., as well as the Majestic Two and Majestic Hotel & Casino in Sihanoukville.
According to the report, Amnesty identified 11 cases where compounds it had already documented in its June 2025 investigation sat within casino complexes later recognized by the regulator. It said the same companies had been operating those casinos since at least 2022, which overlaps with the period when survivors said they were confined, abused and forced to work in scam operations on casino property.
Cambodia now has to show the crackdown reaches licensed sites too
This is where the report becomes more than a human rights story. Cambodia’s new cybercrime law gives the state tougher tools to punish online scam activity, including money laundering and recruitment, and ministers have said it is meant to stop scam centers from returning after raids.
But Amnesty’s findings leave the government facing a more uncomfortable question. It is not enough to say compounds are being raided if licensed casino properties are still being linked to the same abuse network. The issue now is whether Cambodia is willing to examine those casino operators as closely as it says it is examining the scam centers themselves. Until that is clearer, the crackdown will keep looking incomplete.
