There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den gaming is banned. Eight casinos are based in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent location, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are apparently required to pass, there are ways around this, as is correct of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling hall, features 150 one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga river boat is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two 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 opened. There are 150 one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 table games, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant 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 tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international resort and hotel building that features a number of conveniences in addition to the gambling den, which offers 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.