There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the national boundaries from bordering Thailand, where gambling den gambling is illegal. 8 bettings houses are positioned in a relatively small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This area of Cambodia bettings houses is inside a perfect place, a 3 to 4 drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a booming business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only really couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income obtained from the casinos ranges from seven dollars.5 million to over twelve million, and there are couple of restrictions or registration prerequisites for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; even so, investment sources are vague. The borders are officially open from nine a.m. to five p.m., and though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are techniques around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia bettings houses opened in Phnom Penh in ‘94, except were pushed to close in ninety-eight, leaving only one gambling establishment in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling establishment, attributes one hundred and fifty slot machines and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den is open twenty four hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Double-Hand and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling establishment in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in ninety-nine and the Golden Crown soon followed. You can find a hundred and fifty slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Betting house and Resort features 300 slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Gambling establishment, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Gambling establishment Stud Poker. Another one of the eight bettings houses in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty-six slot machines and ninety-seven games. The Star Vegas Gambling den is part of an international resort and hotel complex that features a number of amenities additionally to the betting house, which has 10,000 square feet of one hundred thirty slot machine games and eighty-eight table games.
Across the Cambodian border at Asmech/Surin is one betting house, the Betting house O Samet, with 100 slot machine games and 50 tables of punto banco. Moreover, the Koh Kong Gambling establishment, in the province of Trat, is open everyday from 9:00 a.m. to ten p.m., with one hundred slots and 4 table games. A smaller gambling establishment, Le Macau Casino and Hotel, opened recently at Bavet on the Vietnamese border.