There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino gambling is illegal. Eight casinos are based in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and despite the fact visas are for all intents and purposes needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is accurate of most borders.
The 1st Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling hall, features 150 slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the familiar tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel compound that highlights many amenities accompanying the gambling hall, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.
