Not too late for a winning bet: Need to redraft Gambling Bill

AFTER weeks of discussion, the Committee on Public Finance approved the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) Bill last week. While the Bill faces its second reading in Parliament this Tuesday, its many deficiencies remain—helping create a regulator not worth its salt.

- By Sudaraka Ariyaratne

Cambodia’s struggling, poorly regulated gaming industry.

First, the GRA Bill targets mostly casinos, exempting lotteries and largely ignoring the growing betting sector, making the misnomer of the gaming regulator as a gambling regulator in the Bill seem intentional. While amendments to include lotteries under the regulator are said to be on the way, little light has been shed on the negligence of the betting industry in the Bill—particularly the many international online betting platforms frequented by local patrons, including online prediction markets for sports and elections. The moment calls for a true Gaming Regulatory Authority, not merely a Gambling Regulatory Authority.

The Bill gives the Minister of Finance excessive power, making the regulator an executor of the Minister’s will rather than an independent body. The Minister can appoint board members and the Director General, make regulations, issue binding directives, and control the authority’s funding through budget allocations.

A truly independent, incorruptible regulatory body requires that the Constitutional Council has a say in the appointment of its board members, that the Director General is appointed through a competitive process, that the authority is granted more independent rules-making power, that the Minister does not have the power to issue binding directives on its activities, and that it is funded through license/regulation fees as opposed to budgetary allocations. This last point is crucial as a lucrative industry requires competent, well-paid regulators, which weak funding cannot support.

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