[ English ]

There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where casino gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are situated in a relatively tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are apparently needed to cross, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.

The original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling den, contains 150 slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of blackjack, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are 150 slots and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the normal tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel complex that contains numerous luxuries in addition to the gambling hall, which has 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.