Gambling Industry Drives Southeast Asian Economy: The Rise and Fall of Cambodia and the Philippines

In recent years, driven by global capital flows, some Southeast Asian countries have achieved short-term economic boosts through the gambling industry. Sihanoukville in Cambodia and the Philippines' POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) are the most typical examples.

**The Rise and Fall of Sihanoukville**

Since 2016, Sihanoukville has attracted a large influx of Chinese capital and technical talent by opening up gambling, especially online gambling, to foreigners. Within a few years, real estate prices soared, and high-rise hotels sprang up, with the construction, catering, and logistics industries thriving simultaneously. However, in 2019, under pressure from China, the Cambodian government halted online gambling, leading to a mass exodus of companies and workers, a crash in housing prices, a contraction in the service industry, and a rapid bursting of the bubble.

**The POGO Economy in the Philippines**

Since 2016, the Philippines has vigorously developed POGO by issuing licenses through PAGCOR, providing online gambling services to overseas customers, driving the prosperity of commercial real estate, catering, and translation industries in Manila, Makati, and other areas, and generating significant tax revenue. However, this has also been accompanied by issues such as telecommunications fraud, money laundering, and illegal detention, leading to diplomatic frictions and social controversies between China and the Philippines. After the pandemic, a large number of POGOs have shut down or withdrawn, rapidly cooling the industry.

**Conclusion**

While the gambling industry can bring short-term capital and urban construction prosperity, its reliance on external markets, insufficient regulation, and concentrated risks make its prosperity unsustainable. Once policies shift or the external environment deteriorates, the boom quickly recedes.