There is a captivating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where casino gaming is banned. Eight casinos are based in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing capital gained from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; although, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and despite the fact visas are allegedly needed to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest 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 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-around vacation and hotel building that features a number of comforts accompanying the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight tables.