There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent location, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing income accrued from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are apparently required to cross, there are means around this, as is correct of many borders.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling hall, contains 150 slots and sixty tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the familiar table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel complex that features many amenities in addition to the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.