Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, in which casino wagering is against the law. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 1700, and despite the fact visas are apparently needed to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of most border crossings.
The initial Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge casino, contains one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational vacation and hotel building that features numerous conveniences aside from the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 table games.