There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling den gambling is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent location, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of limitations requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is accurate of many borders.
The initial Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling den, highlights 150 slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the common tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel building that highlights numerous amenities accompanying the casino, which contains ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.