There is an appealing story to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino gambling is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are situated in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are allegedly required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slot machines and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of 150 slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machine games and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international resort and hotel building that highlights a number of amenities on top of the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight table games.