There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is prohibited. Eight casinos are anchored in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect destination, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods around this, as is accurate of most borders.
The original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau gambling hall, contains 150 slot machines and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 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 opened. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machine games and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and 66 of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight casinos in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel complex that highlights many luxuries on top of the gambling den, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.