There is a captivating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den gambling is banned. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a generally small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The amazing income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship gambling den, contains 150 slot machine games and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that contains numerous amenities in addition to the gambling hall, which houses 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.