Cambodia Casinos
There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino betting is banned. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are allegedly required to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau casino, highlights one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that highlights many amenities on top of the casino, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.