There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just across the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling establishment wagering is illegal. Eight bettings houses are located in the relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is inside a prime place, a three to four drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centres in Asia. Cambodia gambling establishments do a flourishing business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only really few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling establishments ranges from 7 dollars.5 million to over 12 million, and there are few constraints or registration requirements for gambling establishment ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; however, investment sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are purportedly required to cross, you will discover methods around this, as is true of the majority of border crossings.
The initial Cambodia bettings houses opened in Phnom Penh in ‘94, except were pushed to close in ninety-eight, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a fixed boat casino, functions 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open twenty four hours with forty-two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of black-jack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Double-Hand and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in ninety-nine and the Golden Crown soon followed. You can find 150 slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty-eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Betting house and Resort functions 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Gambling establishment, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety-six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most well-liked game), Fan Tan, and Pai gow. Moreover, there is the Gambling establishment Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty-six of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Gambling den Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling establishments in Poipet, also in a hotel, will be the Princess Gambling den with one hundred and sixty-six slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Betting house is part of an international resort and hotel complex that attributes numerous amenities in addition to the gambling den, which has ten thousand square feet of one hundred thirty slot machines and eighty-eight table games.
Across the Cambodian border at Asmech/Surin is one betting house, the Casino O Samet, with a hundred slot machines and fifty tables of punto banco. Furthermore, the Koh Kong Betting house, in the province of Trat, is open daily from nine a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with a hundred slot machines and four table games. A smaller gambling establishment, Le Macau Casino and Hotel, opened recently at Bavet on the Vietnamese border.
