Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just over the border from nearby Thailand, in which casino gaming is not legal. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are means around this, as is correct of most borders.
The first Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge casino, highlights 150 slot machines and 60 tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machine games and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that highlights a number of comforts accompanying the casino, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 slot machines and eighty eight tables.