The Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) collaborated with the National Police to close over 100 illegal online gambling and lottery websites, as reported by Phnom Penh Post.
Alerting lottery stakeholders within the southeast Asian country, the regulator disclosed that 123 sites were closed in a clampdown on illegal gambling activity.
“TRC will continue to work with the National Police and relevant authorities in charge of telecommunication operations to shut down all the websites that operate online gambling and lottery as they are illegal and against the government’s circular,” the regulator explained in a statement.
It marks another key milestone in the fight against online gambling crime in Cambodia, ignited by the TRC’s closure of 79 illegal websites in November last year.
At the time, the TRC stated that illegal gambling operations were causing harm to Cambodians and undermining civil obedience in the state, adding: “This activity causes harm to social security and to public order.”
The TRC’s actions also underline the global effort to rid illegal lottery operations from the marketplace.
In Europe, the KSA, the Dutch gambling regulator, issued a ‘consumer warning’ that any unlicensed lottery or gambling websites would be taken down in due course under the terms of the KOA Act, legalising online gambling under strict regulations.
Moreover, authorities in India stated that 83 people were arrested in 2021 for lottery-related offences in Ludhiana, the biggest city in the Punjab state.
“We have clear instructions from the senior officials that illegal lottery business should not be allowed in the industrial hub. Our campaign last year against the illegal lottery had yielded good results as several rackets were busted,” said the Indian Inspector Beant Juneja.