Disco Diamonds

What is Disco Diamonds?

The move aims to clean up the gaming sector by cutting ties between casinos, cyber-fraud operations and untraceable money flows. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Sokha warned that any casino found breaching the suspension after it takes effect risks licence revocation and further legal consequences.

In August, Cambodia’s state news agency, AKP, reported that authorities had inspected 195 licensed casinos nationwide as part of a broader anti-scam crackdown. This resulted in the revocation of 20 licences and the suspension of 29 others, with an additional 23 licences lapsing naturally. 

Touch Sokhak, deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, emphasised that the operation seeks to prevent Cambodia from becoming “a safe haven or money-laundering base for technology-related criminals”.

How to play Disco Diamonds

As work on Game in a Box progressed, Yggdrasil began to see an opportunity extending beyond its own production process.

Historically, building a game studio meant putting all the necessary components in place – from developers and mathematicians to QA and compliance, as well as the underlying systems and integrations. Alternatively, a business looking to enter the market could acquire an existing studio.

Both routes require significant investment. However, as Curwen, adds: “There are plenty of people in this industry with great ideas, brands, audiences or distribution who don’t want to build an entire slot studio from scratch.”

What is Disco Diamonds?

“We would like to see stronger player protection measures across African markets,” Akolade adds. “That includes enforcement of effective age and identity verification, meaningful self-exclusion systems, responsible gambling advertising standards, improved access to counselling and treatment services and stronger action against illegal operators.

“The current landscape pays lip service to responsible gaming, and you’d hardly see effective player protection architecture other than messages asking players to gamble responsibly and surface-level awareness campaigns.

“Having a minimum standard in player protection is one of the aims of the network. Our view is that responsible gaming regulations need to move beyond being paper-based requirements to actual standards that are upheld as a regulatory requirement.”