[ English ]

There is a captivating history to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is against the law. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent spot, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a few controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is real of most borders.

The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, highlights one hundred and fifty slot machines and sixty tables. The Naga river boat is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel compound that features a number of luxuries on top of the casino, which offers 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight table games.