Cambodian casino workers escaped forced labor – report

Posted: January 7, 2025, 09:02 pm.

Last updated: 7 January 2025, 09:11 pm.

An estimated 57 employees fled Cambodia's O-Smach Resort on Sunday after enduring months of adverse working conditions at the casino, according to news reports.

The workers were holding metal rods from bed frames as they fled the guarded and gated compound, located in the Asian country's Oddar Meanchey province, according to witnesses and police.

injuries sustained during escape

“The guards could not stop or resist them, resulting in two injuries,” said an unnamed eyewitness quoted in media reports. “They beat up the security guards, opened the door and ran out.”

radio free asiaAn editorially independent news outlet run by the US government reported that workers at a northern Cambodian gambling site frequently faced abuse.

According to U.S. government allegations, the O-Smach Resort, located near the Cambodia-Thailand border, is allegedly the site of an online gambling operation with a reputation for defrauding players.

Workers at the complex are required to work long hours every day and meet strict quotas. If they did not produce enough, they were beaten, radio free asia Informed.

According to a US Treasury Department statement released last year, traffickers force victims to work up to 15 hours a day and, in some cases, sell the victims to other scam operations or subject them to sex trafficking. Are.

Between 2022 and 2024, the O-Smach Resort was the subject of a police investigation.

According to the US Treasury Department, “Victims reported they were lured to O-Smach Resort by false employment opportunities, had their phones and passports confiscated upon arrival, and were forced to work in scam jobs.”

Claim of assault, abuse

“People who called for help reported being beaten, given electric shocks, demanded huge ransoms, or threatened with being sold to other online scam gangs,” the US statement said. “There have been two reports of victims jumping to their deaths from buildings within the O,Smack Resort.

Earlier, local authorities had launched a rescue operation at the resort. One happened last March.

On Sunday, the local police interrogated the workers who had fled.