There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling hall gambling is not allowed. Eight casinos are situated in a relatively tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a prime spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and although visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship gambling den, highlights 150 slot machine games and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-around vacation and hotel complex that highlights many comforts accompanying the gambling hall, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.
