There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight casinos are anchored in a relatively small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, financial sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is accurate of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling hall, highlights one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 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 soon followed. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that highlights numerous conveniences on top of the casino, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.