There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is illegal. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect destination, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gambling 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 phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 1700, and though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling den, features 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and sixty six of the common tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel building that highlights numerous luxuries accompanying the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.