There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling den betting is illegal. Eight casinos are based in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are for all intents and purposes required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship gambling den, contains 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 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 slots and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 one armed bandits and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that highlights numerous amenities on top of the casino, which has ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight gaming tables.