[ English ]

There is an interesting history to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino gaming is banned. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively tiny location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital gained from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; still, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling den, highlights 150 slot machine games and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the common table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational vacation and hotel complex that highlights a number of amenities aside from the gambling den, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.