[ English ]

There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which casino gambling is illegal. Eight gambling halls are situated in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect destination, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests 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 to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are for all intents and purposes needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is real of many borders.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau casino, contains one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel compound that contains many comforts in addition to the gambling hall, which contains ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight table games.