[ English ]

There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling den gaming is against the law. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect location, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; although, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are allegedly needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is true of most borders.

The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge gambling den, contains 150 slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are 150 slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the common gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-around resort and hotel complex that features a number of luxuries in addition to the gambling hall, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight table games.