There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino betting is not legal. Eight casinos are based in a relatively tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are allegedly needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling den, highlights 150 slot machines and sixty tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the common table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel compound that highlights a number of amenities accompanying the gambling den, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.
