There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just over the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling hall gambling is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; although, financial sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are for all intents and purposes required to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of many borders.
The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge casino, highlights 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel building that contains numerous amenities on top of the gambling hall, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight tables.