There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling hall wagering is banned. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a relatively small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The amazing income acquired from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; however, financial sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and 60 tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games 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 one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the common table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that contains a number of amenities in addition to the casino, which houses 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 tables.