There is a captivating story to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively tiny space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few restrictions constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and despite the fact visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the common table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel building that features a number of luxuries on top of the gambling hall, which offers 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.