There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from neighboring Thailand, in which casino wagering is not permitted. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are means around this, as is real of many borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered 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, contains one hundred and fifty slots and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two 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 soon followed. A total of 150 slot machines and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slots and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the familiar table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel compound that highlights a number of amenities accompanying the casino, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 tables.
