Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino gaming is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 17:00, and though visas are for all intents and purposes needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is accurate of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary bateau casino, contains 150 slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machines and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel complex that features many luxuries in addition to the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.