There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which gambling den gaming is not legal. Eight gambling dens are based in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent location, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few limitations constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; still, funding sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and though visas are apparently required to cross, there are methods around this, as is real of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau casino, contains 150 slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machines and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the common tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international resort and hotel compound that contains many comforts on top of the casino, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.
