There is an appealing history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where gambling den gambling is against the law. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a relatively tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime spot, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and although visas are supposedly needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is correct of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored boat gambling den, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred one armed bandits and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel compound that contains a number of comforts aside from the gambling hall, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and 88 table games.