Cambodia Casinos
There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, where casino gambling is not legal. Eight casinos are based in a relatively small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, 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 original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling den, contains 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 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 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slot machines and 5 table games 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 300 slot machine games and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the familiar gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive vacation and hotel complex that highlights a number of comforts aside from the gambling hall, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight tables.