[ English ]

There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which casino betting is not legal. Eight casinos are anchored in a generally small space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The astonishing income gained from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is true of most borders.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship gambling hall, highlights 150 slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga river boat is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety six table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel building that highlights many conveniences on top of the gambling den, which offers ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.