There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, where casino gambling is not permitted. Eight casinos are established in a generally small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and though visas are allegedly required to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of most borders.
The 1st Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau casino, features one hundred and fifty slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of 21, 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 quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the familiar tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel compound that contains a number of luxuries on top of the gambling den, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight tables.