[ English ]

There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, where gambling hall gaming is illegal. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; however, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are methods and means 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 den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, highlights 150 slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 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 followed. A total of one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel building that contains numerous amenities on top of the casino, which houses 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.