There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino gaming is illegal. Eight casinos are established in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are methods and means 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 one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slots and 60 tables. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-around resort and hotel building that highlights numerous comforts accompanying the gambling den, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 tables.