Cambodia Casinos
There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, in which gambling den gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are methods around this, as is accurate of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau casino, features 150 slots and 60 tables. The Naga gambling hall is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that features many amenities accompanying the casino, which has ten thousand square feet of 130 slots and 88 table games.