There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall betting is banned. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; although, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and despite the fact visas are supposedly required to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling den, contains 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machines and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous amenities aside from the gambling den, which has 10,000 square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight table games.