There is an appealing story to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the border from neighboring Thailand, in which casino gambling is illegal. Eight casinos are based in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect spot, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, investment sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is correct of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat casino, highlights 150 slot machine games and 60 tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are 150 slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machine games and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the familiar gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that highlights many luxuries on top of the gambling hall, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight gaming tables.