There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which casino gaming is not legal. Eight casinos are anchored in a relatively small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect destination, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; still, financial sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are apparently required to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked ship casino, features 150 slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slots and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel building that features a number of comforts accompanying the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight table games.
