[ English ]

There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that lie just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den betting is banned. Eight gambling dens are situated in a generally tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a couple of limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and although visas are allegedly required to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of most border crossings.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge casino, features 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table 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 opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 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 features 300 one armed bandits and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the common tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel complex that features many amenities on top of the casino, which offers 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.