There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling den betting is not legal. Eight casinos are based in a generally tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent location, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked ship casino, features one hundred and fifty slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos 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 is located in an all-around vacation and hotel compound that highlights many luxuries in addition to the gambling den, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and 88 tables.