There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are methods around this, as is real of most borders.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and sixty tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one 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 followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the familiar gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that highlights numerous amenities aside from the casino, which houses ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 tables.