There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling hall gaming is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent spot, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are apparently required to cross, there are ways around this, as is correct of most borders.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge gambling den, features 150 slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long opened. There are 150 slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the familiar gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that features many amenities aside from the casino, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 table games.