There is an appealing history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect location, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are allegedly required to pass, there are ways around this, as is accurate of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge casino, highlights 150 slots and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of 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 part of an all-around vacation and hotel complex that features many conveniences aside from the gambling den, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight tables.