There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which casino gaming is not permitted. Eight casinos are anchored in a generally tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 17:00, and although visas are allegedly required to cross, there are means around this, as is accurate of most borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship casino, highlights one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international resort and hotel compound that contains many comforts on top of the gambling den, which has ten thousand square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.
