Cambodia Gambling Dens
There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively tiny location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are allegedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The 1st gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slot machines and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that highlights numerous conveniences in addition to the gambling hall, which contains ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 tables.