There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from next door Thailand, where casino gaming is against the law. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect spot, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are means around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five tables 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 highlights 300 one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the familiar gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that contains a number of amenities on top of the casino, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 table games.