There is an appealing story to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den betting is not legal. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 1700, and though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship casino, contains 150 slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the common table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel complex that highlights a number of amenities on top of the gambling hall, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight gaming tables.