There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, in which casino gambling is not legal. Eight gambling dens are situated in a relatively small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in a prime area, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; although, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and even though visas are allegedly required to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling den, highlights 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel compound that contains many luxuries accompanying the casino, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.