PHNOM PENH: Thanks to improved collection efforts, a total of 34.7 million U.S. dollars in taxes was taken in from Cambodia’s casinos in 2015, a 33 percent increase on the previous year, a local English newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing a finance official.
Ros Phearun, deputy director-general of the ministry’s finance industry department, said the increase was notable, as the average annual growth in tax collection from casinos over the previous three years was only 12.5 percent.
The government last year launched a new strategy to boost revenue by improving the transparency, efficiency and equity of the tax system and monitoring tax collection more closely.
“This strategy helped the government collect more tax revenue from largely untapped non-gambling sources within casinos, such as restaurants and nightclubs,” Phearun was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.
NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh accounted for around 23 percent of all casino tax collection last year, in large part because it also contains an extensive entertainment and hotel complex, the newspaper reported.
Currently, some 59 casinos have been operating in this Southeast Asian nation.
The country grants licenses to casinos in a bid to help attract foreign tourists. Under the kingdom’s law, only foreigners are allowed to gamble in casinos.
