There is an interesting history to the Cambodia casinos that reside just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall betting is against the law. Eight gambling dens are based in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 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 twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is correct of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau gambling den, features 150 slot machines and 60 table games. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel complex that features numerous conveniences in addition to the gambling den, which offers ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 gaming tables.