There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino betting is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime destination, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; still, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 17:00, and though visas are apparently required to pass, there are means around this, as is true of many borders.

The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge casino, highlights 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table 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 opened. A total of 150 slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, 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 66 of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel building that contains many amenities aside from the casino, which provides ten thousand sq.ft. of 130 slots and eighty eight table games.