There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino gaming is not permitted. Eight casinos are anchored in a relatively small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling hall, contains 150 slot machine games and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, two 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 150 slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel compound that highlights many luxuries accompanying the gambling den, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.