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There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is not allowed. Eight casinos are based in a generally tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; still, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are apparently required to pass, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The first Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat casino, features one hundred and fifty slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table 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 opened. There are 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slots and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and sixty six of the common tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel building that contains many luxuries accompanying the gambling hall, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 gaming tables.
