Cambodia Casinos
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, in which gambling den wagering is illegal. Eight gambling halls are situated in a relatively small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and although visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is correct of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty slot machines and 60 tables. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines 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 newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that features many comforts in addition to the casino, which offers ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight tables.