There is a captivating history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is banned. Eight casinos are situated in a relatively small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The astonishing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, financing sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently needed to pass, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling den, features 150 slots and 60 gaming tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the normal tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel complex that features a number of comforts on top of the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 tables.