There is a captivating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino gambling is against the law. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect location, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.
The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling den, contains 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots 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, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-around vacation and hotel compound that features numerous comforts on top of the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.
