There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino betting is against the law. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in a prime area, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and though visas are allegedly needed to cross, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge casino, contains 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 one armed bandits and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel complex that features a number of luxuries aside from the gambling den, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.