Cambodia's gaming sector is growing rapidly on a surge of Chinese investment with a total of 79 casino licences now issued, a government official said yesterday.

Ros Phirun, deputy director of the finance industry department at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said most of the country’s casinos were concentrated along the country’s borders to attract gamblers from neighbouring countries, while rules that allow brick-and-mortar casinos to operate online gambling were encouraging foreign casino operators to relocate to Cambodia.

“Casino companies continue to flow in to Cambodia with a marked increase in Chinese-owned casino operations recently,” he said, adding that the majority of this new investment was directed to Preah Sihanouk province.