There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from next door Thailand, where gambling den wagering is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent spot, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.
The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau gambling hall, features 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one 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 quickly followed. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that features a number of amenities in addition to the casino, which has 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.