There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino wagering is not legal. Eight gambling halls are situated in a generally tiny location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The amazing income gained from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are allegedly necessary to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the common table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel compound that features numerous amenities on top of the gambling hall, which offers 10,000 square feet of 130 slot machine games and 88 gaming tables.
