Sports Betting in Cambodia

Sports betting is one of the most popular forms of gambling in Cambodia, and it comes in two very different shapes. On one side there is a single licensed venue: the ARENA Sports Bar at NagaWorld, a sports betting bar inside Phnom Penh's biggest casino resort, where you can watch games on big screens and bet on them on the spot. On the other side there is the online world, where international sportsbooks such as Dafabet, 1xBet, 22Bet and Betway accept Cambodian players and take deposits in local currency through bank transfer and e-wallets⁵. This page covers both: what the venue is like, which online operators serve Cambodia, how deposits and withdrawals work, what sports and bet types are on the menu, and the account rules you will run into.

Sports betting in Cambodia: the legal position

The practical picture is simple. Foreigners and tourists are allowed to gamble at regulated gaming venues in Cambodia, and the ARENA Sports Bar at NagaWorld is the only legal sports betting establishment in the country¹. For Cambodian citizens, gambling is illegal, and that includes sports betting at licensed venues⁵.

The online side is murkier. Despite the ban on gambling for Cambodians, many online betting sites appear to be operating freely in the country, offering sports, live betting and casino games, with payments flowing through local bank transfers, international payment gateways and e-wallets⁵. These sites are licensed offshore, not in Cambodia, so the practical risk for a local player falls on the player rather than the operator. For a fuller picture of the rules, see gambling laws in Cambodia and gambling in Cambodia as a visitor.

Betting online from Cambodia: which operators accept players

Cambodian players who bet online are served almost entirely by offshore sportsbooks. These operate from jurisdictions such as Panama, Anjouan, Mwali, Curaçao, the Isle of Man and Malta, which means your account is governed by that distant license rather than by any Cambodian authority². According to the betting comparison site Nostrabet, the top five betting sites in Cambodia are Betsson, 1xBet, 22Bet, Betway and 888Sport⁵.

A few names come up again and again in the region:

• Dafabet, a Curaçao-licensed sportsbook that has served the Asia Pacific market since 2004, covered in detail below⁶
• 1xBet, which takes payments in USD and KHR for Cambodian users and is covered in the next section⁴
• SBOBET, a long-running Asian sportsbook specializing in Asian Handicap and in-play live betting⁷
• BC.GAME, which offers pre-match and in-play odds across more than 80 sports, including football, baseball, NFL and esports⁸
• MelBet, which runs a sportsbook alongside slots, live casino, esports and fast games⁹

If you want to compare several of these operators side by side, we have separate review pages for 1xBet, MelBet, BCGame and SBOBET.

Dafabet: Curacao-licensed sportsbook for the Asia Pacific market

Dafabet is the online sportsbook most Cambodian players will encounter first, because it is built for this part of the world. It is licensed and regulated in compliance with the laws of Curaçao to run a remote betting and gaming business, and it has been serving the Asia Pacific market since 2004⁶. Alongside sports betting it runs an online casino with a wide variety of live games and slot games, and it offers 24-hour live customer support, 7 days a week⁶.

The sportsbook itself runs on the IBC sports betting platform, and Dafabet also provides betting on horse racing¹¹. You can bet from a phone by opening https://www.dafabet.com/sports or https://mobile.dafabet.com/sports in your mobile browser; there is no telephone betting service¹¹.

Deposits and withdrawals. Dafabet accepts Local Bank Transfer, Online Banking, e-wallets, cryptocurrency, Skrill, Neteller and Tether³. To deposit, you log in to your account, click the cashier button and choose a method; you need a real money account with a chosen currency first¹⁴. Minimums and maximums vary by method and are displayed on the deposit page. As a guide, Local Bank Transfer starts at 1,000.00, and the e-wallet methods listed start at 500.00 or 675.00, with per-transaction maximums ranging from 67,500.00 up to 3,075,250.00¹⁵.

Withdrawals follow a few firm rules:

• Your withdrawal method should be the same as your deposit method, and Dafabet will only process a withdrawal using the same payment method used for previous deposits and withdrawals¹¹
• You may add up to 3 bank accounts for withdrawal if you use Local Bank Transfer¹¹
• You can cancel a withdrawal request any time within 48 hours of submitting it¹²
• Funds may take 1 to 4 banking days to reflect in your account after Dafabet pays out, and requests made after 4pm Friday in the second and fourth week of the month are processed the following Monday³
• You can track the status of deposits and withdrawals through the Banking button and the Transaction History screen in the cashier¹⁵

No identification is normally needed to withdraw, but Dafabet may request proof of ID (front and back) and a recent utility bill for security purposes¹². A handling charge may be applied on deposits and withdrawals to cover third-party transaction costs, depending on the payment method¹⁶.

Third-party payments are not allowed. If you deposit or withdraw through a credit card or e-wallet, that account must show the same personal details as your Dafabet registration. No third-party transactions are permitted, and for Moneybookers users the email on the wallet must match the email registered with Dafabet³.

Bets and settlement. Once a bet is placed, accepted and recorded, it cannot be canceled or changed¹⁰. If a match is suspended, abandoned or terminated, the whole match is void: the stake is returned on single selections, and void selections in a mix parlay are treated as non-runners, with the stake running onto the remaining selections¹¹. Winnings are credited to your account after confirmation of the final result from the relevant source, most likely the sport's governing body¹⁰. If Dafabet posts odds or handicaps in error, it may void the affected bets or correct the error and re-settle at the correct price¹⁰.

Account basics. You must be over 18 to register and bet, or above the legal gambling age in your jurisdiction if that is higher¹⁸. Only one account per household is allowed; multiple accounts are prohibited¹². After three failed password attempts, the account locks automatically for 30 minutes¹². Dafabet recommends changing your password every 3 to 6 months and never reusing old passwords¹¹. One more security point worth knowing: Dafabet will never ask you for a wallet recovery phrase, passwords, PIN codes or private keys, and will never ask you to install apps or connect a web3 wallet¹⁹.

1xBet: identity checks and payouts for Cambodian users

1xBet is the other sportsbook that actively courts Cambodian players, and its Cambodia-facing operation states that it complies with both Cambodian and Curaçao regulations, and that only players aged 18 and over can wager⁴. Payments for Cambodian users run in USD and KHR through local bank transfers, international payment gateways and e-wallets⁵.

The part that matters most in practice is verification. All users must upload a government-issued ID before withdrawals are processed, and KYC-verified customers should expect their requested payouts to be processed within 48 hours¹³. In other words, the speed of your first withdrawal depends on how early you get your ID checked. A passport, national ID card or similar official document is what is asked for.

For a broader look at the operator, see our 1xBet review.

Sports and bet types you can find

Football is the backbone of sports betting across the region, and the markets reflect that. The bet types you will see most are:

• Asian Handicap, the classic format on Asian sportsbooks, where the favorite gives a goal or point start to level the odds⁷
• Over/Under totals, on goals, points, corners and more²⁰
• Outright winner markets on leagues and tournaments, plus player props and futures, especially in basketball²⁰
• In-play live betting, where odds move as the match unfolds⁵

Esports has grown into a major category of its own. Betting sites serving the region list 15 or more esports titles, including Dota 2, CS2, League of Legends, Valorant and PUBG Mobile²¹. Markets include total kills, map winners and live props like first blood²². Minimum bets start at $1, with maximums of $500 or more across major global tournaments²². Typical odds ranges for the main esports categories are as follows²¹:

Some sportsbooks also run virtual sports and simulation products, with Asian handicap betting, over/under odds and corner markets on simulated football²³. On the bet slip side, the standard formats are single bets, accumulators and system bets, and winnings are credited to your account automatically once the result is confirmed²⁴.

Account rules, limits and self-exclusion tools

The account rules at Asian-facing sportsbooks follow a similar pattern, and it is worth knowing them before you sign up anywhere.

Age and identity. The minimum age is 18 at Dafabet and 1xBet, or higher where local law says so¹⁸. SBOBET goes further: its minimum age is 21, or 18 for certain countries, or the legal minimum in your country of residence, whichever is higher, and it requires personal information plus documentary proof to verify your identity and age when you open an account²⁵. Lying about your age at Dafabet means forfeiture of any winnings and possible criminal prosecution¹⁸.

Limits you can set yourself. Dafabet lets players define their own responsible gaming limits and provides management tools to set and control them¹⁸. Other operators in the region offer deposit limits (daily, weekly and monthly), betting limits, loss limits and session time limits, so it is worth asking customer support what is available on your site.

Self-exclusion. Dafabet gives you the power to permanently exclude yourself by contacting the customer services team; once excluded, you are barred from playing at Dafabet¹⁸. A useful self-test the operator suggests: set yourself the goal of stopping gambling for two weeks or a month, and if you cannot achieve it, you may have a problem¹⁸. Operators in the region also point players toward help organizations such as Gambling Therapy, Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon²⁷. If you want local and regional resources, see our page on gambling help in Cambodia.

One account, one name. The single-account-per-household rule and the ban on third-party payments exist for the same reason: to keep one verified person behind every transaction. Opening a second account with false details during a self-exclusion period puts any losses on you, not the operator²⁷.

Scam awareness. Because offshore sportsbooks are popular in Cambodia, fake sites and impersonators follow. Never share your password, PIN or wallet recovery phrase with anyone claiming to represent a sportsbook, and be wary of anyone asking you to install an app to "fix" your account¹⁹. Our page on gambling scams in Cambodia covers the common patterns.