[ English ]

There is a captivating history to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which casino wagering is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are established in a relatively tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most border crossings.

The first Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau casino, features 150 one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of chemin de fer, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The 1st casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight casinos in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive resort and hotel compound that contains many luxuries on top of the gambling den, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.