[ English ]

There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, where gambling den gaming is illegal. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect destination, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular 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 only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and despite the fact visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are ways around this, as is accurate of many border crossings.

The 1st Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary ship casino, highlights 150 slots and sixty tables. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred one armed bandits and seventy gaming 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 dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel complex that contains numerous luxuries accompanying the gambling hall, which has 10,000 square feet of 130 slot machine games and 88 tables.