There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just over the border from nearby Thailand, where casino betting is prohibited. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime area, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; still, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are 150 one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (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 common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel complex that features a number of comforts aside from the casino, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight tables.
