The rights group Adhoc yesterday wrote to Ratanakkiri Provincial Court seeking “immediate action to close down” an unlicensed casino that has reportedly been operating near the Vietnam border since November 5.
Adhoc launched an investigation into the alleged casino after local police said last week that people had been gambling in a building in O’Yadaw district’s Paknhai commune, about 500 meters from the O’Yadaw border checkpoint.
“What Adhoc has learned so far, there are both Cambodians and Vietnamese who have been gambling there,” said Pen Bonnar, Adhoc’s provincial coordinator.
“Some Cambodian businessmen as well as Vietnamese people have lost…$4,000 each just within a day gambling, we received information,” he said.
Dak Sar, O’Yadaw district governor, said that a local firm called AHS King Group Co Ltd received an order from the Council of Ministers on September 22nd, allowing it to build entertainment venues, markets and restaurants in the Paknhai commune border area.
Adhoc asked for “the stop of illegal gambling because it is violating and opposing the efforts of Prime Minister Hun Sen…in eliminating gambling nationwide and the policy of safety villages and communes,” the letter read.
Prak Soeurn, chief of provincial court’s clerk, confirmed that the court had received Adhoc’s letter but declined to give details of its content or the court’s response, as he said he has not yet fully read the letter.
“If there are such illegal reportedly gambling operation without license,” Mr Soeurn said, “it is against the law.”
When asked yesterday if the alleged gambling is still going on, Mr Sar declined to comment, and referred questions to district police.
O’Yadaw district police chief Ma Vichet yesterday dismissed Adhoc’s account.
“No gambling has taken place yet, because the company has not yet obtained a license,” Mr Vichet said. But he added that local police were looking into the alleged gambling.
Contact information for AHS King Group was not available yesterday.
