There is a captivating story to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most borders.
The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling hall, contains 150 slot machines and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are 150 one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machines and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the familiar gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel compound that contains a number of comforts accompanying the casino, which offers 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and 88 tables.