There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino gambling is not legal. Eight gambling halls are situated in a relatively small location in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect destination, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing 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 few controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; however, investment sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 1700, and though visas are apparently required to cross, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling den, features 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and 66 of the normal tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous luxuries in addition to the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and 88 tables.