There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which gambling den betting is not permitted. Eight gambling dens are situated in a generally small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in a prime area, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of limitations requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is real of many borders.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge casino, contains 150 slot machine games and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the common table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that features a number of conveniences accompanying the casino, which has 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and 88 table games.