There is an interesting history to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino wagering is banned. Eight gambling dens are based in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and although visas are allegedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of many borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and sixty tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the familiar gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that contains a number of comforts on top of the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 table games.