Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is illegal. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally small location in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent location, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing capital gained from the gambling dens 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 gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The first Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and sixty tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machines and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel building that highlights many luxuries accompanying the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 gaming tables.