There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino wagering is not legal. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; although, financial sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are for all intents and purposes necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau gambling hall, highlights 150 slot machines and sixty table games. The Naga river boat is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of twenty-one, 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 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that features many luxuries on top of the gambling den, which contains ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight tables.