NagaCorp recently announced it would invest $369 million in its latest project opposite the Buddhist Institute.

The Hong Kong-listed casino operator’s latest Phnom Penh venture, Naga2,will include a casino, a hotel and a conference hall.

The announcement of the investment by NagaCorp, Cambodia’s biggest casino operator, was made on the company’s website, where it reported that the company had already launched the $369 million project, which is slated to feature between 200 and 300 gambling tables, 500 gambling machines and 50 VIP rooms.

The project will also include a 1,033-room hotel, a conference hall with the capacity to hold 4,000 people, 18,000 square metres of retail space, as well as a spacious park.

According to the announcement, construction at the new project’s work site is proceeding on schedule, and the overall project will be finished by the end of 2015.

The project will feature three components: the so-called TSCLK Integrated Complex, the NagaCity Walk and a tourist park.

The company cites high occupancy rates at its current NagaWorld complex as the reason for its new phase of development, and announced on its website that Naga2 will be connected to NagaWorld, bringing the casino and hotel complex to a new level. NagaCorp reported profits of more than $140 million in 2013, according to Reuters.

The company has yet to provide detailed information about the heights and full scale of the new buildings under construction, but artists’ impressions of the complex on the NagaCorp website show a total of five buildings.

Dith Channa, VMC Real Estate general manager, hailed the new project as a boon to Phnom Penh’s tourism and real estate sectors, attracting further tourists to the Kingdom and in turn stimulating more investment.

“The project has a good location close to the river,” he said.

Meanwhile, president and CEO of VTrust Group Kuy Vat noted that not everybody was in agreement that Phnom Penh needed further development of its gambling industry, even though some gamblers also happened to be keen investors.

Some sections of the population, he said, think gambling brings negative habits with it.