Preah Sihanouk provincial police on Sunday arrested 56 people and seized multiple electronic gaming machines from four illegal Chinese gambling sites in Commune III’s Village 1, in Mittapheap district.

Provincial police chief Choun Narin told The Post on Monday that of the 56 people arrested, 36 were Chinese nationals while 20 were Cambodian.

The managers – aged 36, 28, 25 and 21 – of the four entertainment clubs were among those arrested.

They were questioned by authorities and sent to the provincial court for further legal action on suspicion of “secretly opening illegal gambling”.

“After they were questioned, the provincial court decided not to detain them [in prison]. But they were put under court supervision for their unauthorised gambling operations.

“If they choose to continue with conducting illegal gambling operations, they will either be jailed in the provincial prison or be deported from the Kingdom,” said Narin.

The other 52 arrested employees and customers, who were mostly Chinese nationals, were released after authorities instructed them to sign a contract promising not to engage in illegal gambling in the future.

Besides the arrests, the police also confiscated 15 gaming machines, 60 slot machines, three motorbikes, 39 mobile phones, 1,300 gaming tokens, five books, some cards and other gaming-related documents.

A total of $19,635 was also seized from the gambling sites.

The exhibits were checked and stored by the provincial court for further investigation, while the gambling sites were shut down.

The government last year enforced a ban on online gambling operations across the Kingdom.