Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is an interesting story to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where casino gaming is not legal. Eight gambling halls are situated in a relatively small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; although, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are apparently required to cross, there are methods around this, as is real of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling den, highlights one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 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 followed. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous conveniences on top of the gambling den, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 table games.