There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight casinos are established in a relatively small location in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect area, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; however, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are for all intents and purposes required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary ship casino, contains 150 slot machine games and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel complex that contains a number of comforts aside from the gambling den, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.