[ English ]

There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where casino wagering is not legal. Eight casinos are established in a generally small location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect location, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few limitations requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is correct of most border crossings.

The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau gambling hall, contains 150 slot machines and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, two 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 before long followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machine games and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of 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 a multinational resort and hotel complex that contains numerous amenities in addition to the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.