Cambodia Gambling Dens
There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino gambling is prohibited. Eight casinos are established in a relatively tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime area, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are apparently required to cross, there are means around this, as is correct of many borders.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat casino, highlights 150 slot machine games and 60 tables. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel building that highlights a number of amenities in addition to the gambling hall, which offers ten thousand square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.