Cambodia Casinos
There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which casino gambling is prohibited. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; although, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is accurate of many border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored boat gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel compound that features numerous luxuries aside from the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand sq.ft. of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.