Another Cambodian casino has been shut down for staging cockfights, and some local residents are pissed that the operators have apparently received only a slap on the beak.
Last Thursday, authorities in Memot District, located in Tboung Khmum province on Cambodia’s southeastern border with Vietnam, shut down an unlicensed gambling operation known as Global 69 Casino for operating an illegal cockfighting ring.
The Khmer Times reported that the raid involved both provincial police and military police and was led by the Tboung Khmum Provincial Court prosecutor. The casino was closed on the order of the court, but the Phnom Penh Post reported without further explanation that the closure was only temporary.
The Times reported that around 100 individuals were detained, including the casino’s owner and managers, although the Post later reported that the owners weren’t among those detained. Local residents who have been complaining about the casino for some time found new reason to complain when they learned that the owners didn’t appear to be facing anything more severe than a brief period of inactivity.
The Post quoted a local TV news report indicating that the operation came to the authorities’ attention after they learned that the casino was permitting local residents to bet on the cockfights. Cambodia is lousy with small-scale casinos, located mostly in border towns near Vietnam and Thailand, but locals aren’t permitted to gamble.
Cockfighting is common in Cambodia, and some venues broadcast the ‘matches’ online in order to reach a broader base of bettors. In fact, an outfit calling itself Rock Casino recently posted the below cockfighting video to YouTube, which the censors have apparently yet to detect, likely due to its somewhat misleading ‘Cambodian chicken war’ title. Warning: if you don’t want to see one chicken literally peck another to death accompanied by an extremely annoying generic techno soundtrack, look away now.
