[ English ]

There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling den gambling is illegal. Eight casinos are anchored in a generally small location in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect spot, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income gained from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, financial sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and even though visas are supposedly required to pass, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.

The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling hall, contains one hundred and fifty slot machines and 60 tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. There are 150 one armed bandits and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos 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 part of an international resort and hotel building that features numerous amenities on top of the gambling hall, which offers 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 table games.