There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is not legal. Eight casinos are based in a generally small location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few limitations requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are allegedly necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is correct of many border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling hall, highlights 150 slots and 60 tables. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel compound that features many luxuries on top of the casino, which has 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 table games.