There is an appealing story to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling den betting is banned. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; still, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are means around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge casino, highlights 150 slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table 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. There are one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the common table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that features many luxuries on top of the gambling den, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 table games.