Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino betting is against the law. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; still, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau gambling den, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machines and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel complex that contains numerous comforts in addition to the casino, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.