There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, where gambling den gambling is banned. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively small location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a prime spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a few restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and although visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to cross, there are means around this, as is correct of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary ship gambling hall, highlights one hundred and fifty slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel compound that features many comforts in addition to the gambling hall, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.
