There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which casino gambling is banned. Eight casinos are based in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income gained from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are apparently necessary to pass, there are ways around this, as is accurate of many borders.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge casino, contains one hundred and fifty slot machine games and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 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 original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel compound that highlights a number of comforts on top of the gambling hall, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 tables.