There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gaming is not legal. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent destination, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of 150 one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and 66 of the normal tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around resort and hotel building that contains many amenities in addition to the gambling hall, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.
