The Phnom Penh Post
Written by May Kunmakara
Friday, 27 March 2009
FOLLOWING a government reprimand of NagaWorld, the casino has ended sports-betting operations but maintained its core gambling operations.
Keat Chhon, minister of economy and finance, said Thursday that his office issued a letter at the beginning of last week demanding NagaWorld fall in line with last month's nationwide state ban on gambling.
The order was confirmed by Chea Peng Chheang, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance who is in charge of the government's relations with the gambling industry.
"In the letter, we told them to stop all activities banned by the government order," he told the Post Thursday.
The government action comes in the wake of criticism against NagaWorld's exemption from the sports-betting ban at the end of last month.
Nancy Chau, the officer manager of Cambo Six's Phnom Penh office - the company that had been the country's most popular sports-betting establishment before the government ban - previously complained that NagaWorld continued taking sports bets, an exception the government said was because Cambodians are prohibited from going there.
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said Thursday that NagaWorld should have been reined in.
"It's the biggest casino and it's along the riverside, in plain sight of all tourists," he said.
Written by May Kunmakara
Friday, 27 March 2009
FOLLOWING a government reprimand of NagaWorld, the casino has ended sports-betting operations but maintained its core gambling operations.
Keat Chhon, minister of economy and finance, said Thursday that his office issued a letter at the beginning of last week demanding NagaWorld fall in line with last month's nationwide state ban on gambling.
The order was confirmed by Chea Peng Chheang, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance who is in charge of the government's relations with the gambling industry.
"In the letter, we told them to stop all activities banned by the government order," he told the Post Thursday.
The government action comes in the wake of criticism against NagaWorld's exemption from the sports-betting ban at the end of last month.
Nancy Chau, the officer manager of Cambo Six's Phnom Penh office - the company that had been the country's most popular sports-betting establishment before the government ban - previously complained that NagaWorld continued taking sports bets, an exception the government said was because Cambodians are prohibited from going there.
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Yim Sovann said Thursday that NagaWorld should have been reined in.
"It's the biggest casino and it's along the riverside, in plain sight of all tourists," he said.
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