Weak law enforcement and lax regulation within the south-east Asia casino sector offer crime syndicates a ready channel for money laundering, according to a newly-published study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The study attempted to look at what it termed patterns of organised crime in south-east Asia and the challenges posed to the region by corruption and money laundering. It suggested the pace at which such crimes were growing in south-east Asia outpaced the ability of local law enforcement to counter them.
The UN study highlighted that as of January 2019, there were 230 licensed casinos in south-east Asia, including 150 in Cambodia, 67 in the Philippines and five in aggregate in Laos and Myanmar. The study particularly noted the recent surge in the number of licensed casinos in Cambodia, which hosted only 57 such venues in 2014. The study did not clarify whether it counted slot machine parlours and table games video streaming studios under the heading “casinos.”
Source: GGRAsia
