There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which casino gaming is illegal. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors 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 dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 1700, and even though visas are apparently required to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat casino, highlights one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and sixty tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel complex that contains many comforts on top of the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight tables.