Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den gaming is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; although, financing sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and though visas are apparently necessary to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of many borders.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred one armed bandits and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel building that features many amenities on top of the casino, which offers ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 table games.