With the sole intention of making Cambodia a hub of gaming in South East Asia, the lawmakers of Cambodia are currently pushing for a legislation that would allure foreign investors to its casino and gaming industry.
The proposed legislation, is anticipated to be passed post the general elections scheduled to take place later this years. It will oversee an industry that brings the government US$50 million in tax revenues. As disclosed by the officials the government has been lookingto set a new tax rate for casino games at between four and five per cent to match neighbouring rates such as those from Singapore.
Ben Reichel, the Executive Director of the Sydney-listed Donaco International, said: “There’ is a lot of unsatisfied demand in the region as a whole. If you look at the number of tables compared to somewhere like the USA, it’s actually a very low number of gaming tables available – which is why there is so much illegal competition going on.”
The local industry has been growing since the late 1990s, and it now features 65 licenced casinos. The Cambodian industry has benefited from restrictions and bans on legal casinos in Thailand and other territories where local gamblers are banned from entering casinos.
Furthermore, arrivals from Chinese tourists in 2017 elevated to over 40 per cent to 1.2 million which surpassed Vietnam as the largest source of tourists in Cambodia.
In view of this Donaco’s Reichel said: “The government has said they want to make China one of their top three – if not number one source of tourism going forward.”
