[ English ]

There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia casinos that reside just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where gambling den wagering is not permitted. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent spot, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income accrued from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; still, financing sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is real of most borders.

The original Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau gambling hall, highlights 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga gambling den is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The 1st gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. There are 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machine games and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that features numerous luxuries aside from the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight tables.