There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling hall wagering is illegal. Eight casinos are established in a generally small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; although, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge casino, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the common tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel compound that contains many amenities on top of the gambling den, which has ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight tables.
