[ English ]

There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia casinos that reside just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where casino wagering is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally small location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The amazing income accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and even though visas are apparently needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is real of most border crossings.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, highlights one hundred and fifty slots and sixty table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel building that features numerous luxuries on top of the casino, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 tables.