[ English ]

There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is against the law. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively tiny space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime destination, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and although visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of many borders.

The 1st Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling den, contains 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 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 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous luxuries accompanying the casino, which houses 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight table games.