There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino wagering is illegal. Eight casinos are anchored in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent spot, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, investment sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly required to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau gambling hall, highlights 150 slot machine games and 60 tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the common tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel complex that features many comforts in addition to the gambling den, which offers ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and 88 tables.