There is a captivating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino gambling is illegal. Eight casinos are based in a relatively small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect area, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income gained from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to pass, there are methods around this, as is accurate of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat casino, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the familiar gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel complex that highlights many comforts on top of the casino, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.