There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, where casino wagering is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The astonishing income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a few restrictions constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are for all intents and purposes needed to cross, there are means around this, as is accurate of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel complex that contains numerous conveniences on top of the gambling hall, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.