There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, in which gambling den wagering is not legal. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect location, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal 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 hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; although, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are allegedly required to cross, there are methods around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling den, features one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 60 tables. The Naga casino never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slots and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and 66 of the normal tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel compound that highlights a number of luxuries accompanying the gambling hall, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 tables.