[ English ]

There is a captivating story to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the dividing line from next door Thailand, in which gambling hall gambling is not legal. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime destination, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai laborers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income gained from the gambling dens ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; although, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are apparently necessary to cross, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.

The initial Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling hall, contains 150 slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The 1st casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are 150 slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games 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 machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel complex that features a number of luxuries aside from the gambling hall, which houses 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.