There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall betting is banned. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income gained 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 presumed to be mostly Thai; still, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge gambling hall, highlights 150 one armed bandits and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 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 first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machine games and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international resort and hotel building that highlights a number of luxuries aside from the casino, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 table games.