There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent destination, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the casinos 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 assumed to be mostly Thai; however, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau gambling den, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are 150 slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machines and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that highlights many luxuries accompanying the casino, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of 130 slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.