There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling den gaming is against the law. Eight casinos are established in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent area, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and even though visas are for all intents and purposes required to pass, there are methods around this, as is true of most borders.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer 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 slots and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the common table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel complex that highlights numerous amenities aside from the casino, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.