There is a captivating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the border from nearby Thailand, where casino betting is not permitted. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively tiny location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling den, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machine games and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the common tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous comforts on top of the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 gaming tables.
