There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino gambling is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime destination, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are means around this, as is true of many borders.
The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau casino, contains 150 slot machines and 60 tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours 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 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that features numerous amenities accompanying the casino, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.