[ English ]

There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is accurate of many borders.

The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat casino, features one hundred and fifty slots and 60 tables. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that features a number of conveniences on top of the gambling den, which offers 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 slots and 88 table games.