There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling den gaming is prohibited. Eight casinos are established in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect spot, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; although, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 gaming tables, 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 normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that features a number of comforts on top of the gambling hall, which offers ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.