There is an interesting history to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the border from next door Thailand, where gambling den gambling is banned. Eight gambling dens are based in a relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent destination, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; although, funding sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are means around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The first Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat casino, features 150 slot machines and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are 150 slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machine games and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel complex that features a number of amenities in addition to the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.