There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which casino gambling is banned. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income accrued from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; still, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are apparently necessary to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is correct of many border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat casino, contains one hundred and fifty slot machine games and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machine games and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel building that contains numerous comforts accompanying the gambling hall, which offers ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight gaming tables.
