Authorities in Eswatini have been left scrambling for a new court venue due to the size of an illegal gambling ring discovered in the country.

Last month alone 146 foreign nationals were arrested by the Royal Eswatini Police Service for running an online gambling network and a fraud operation. Officials in Eswatini are tracking down new venues for legal proceedings after initial hearings found that the Mbabane Magistrates’ Court was too small. Reports from the Eswatini times said that supporters of the accused were forced to stand outside.

Principal Magistrate Fikile Nhlabatsi led the proceedings and she proposed that the trial be held in another courtroom in Eswatini with a larger capacity. She also enquired of the possibility of gender separation during trials.  

Foreigners Leading Illegal Gambling in Eswatini.

Out of the146 arrested, majority are from Asia (China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan). A small number of the suspects are also from Brazil. All the arrested offenders had entered the country illegally.

During the raids in hotels around Eswatini, police discovered rooms had been converted into makeshift call centers and workstations with computers and mobile devices. The foreigners had even gone as far as designing one of the rooms to look like a police station. The room was being used to convince victims they were in contact with legitimate law enforcement officials. 

Read Also: Eswatini Crackdown on Illegal Online Gambling Involving Foreign Nationals

The Cambodian Connection!

Criminal proceedings in Eswatini indicate a significant expansion of scam operations that have become associated with casinos and are continuing to raise concerns, not just in Africa but specifically in Southeast Asia.

In particular, the government of Cambodia was placed under significant pressure to address concerns that the country has become a hub of scam centers. The human rights charity Amnesty International accused lawmakers of ‘deliberately ignoring a litany of human rights abuses’ linked to compounds in the country.

A report published in June 2025 identified 53 scamming compounds with over half were linked to casinos, as gangs often repurpose former casinos and hotels into centers for fraud.

More recently, Amnesty earmarked 12 casinos that the Cambodia Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC) approved plans for between December 2025 and January 2026, explaining that such locations operated as scam compounds where alleged human rights abuses have been documented.

The trial of the 146 arrested in Eswatini will begin on 12 June.