There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling hall wagering is against the law. Eight gambling dens are situated in a relatively tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a prime area, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital acquired from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and though visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to pass, there are means around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving just 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship casino, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slots and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat banque (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 66 of the common gaming 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 166 slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel complex that highlights a number of luxuries accompanying the gambling den, which contains ten thousand square feet of 130 slots and eighty eight tables.