There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino gaming is illegal. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to pass, there are methods around this, as is correct of many borders.
The 1st Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slot machines and sixty tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that contains many amenities on top of the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight gaming tables.