[ English ]

There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which casino wagering is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally small space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia casinos is in a perfect area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is real of many borders.

The original Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and sixty tables. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 one armed bandits and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machine games and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that features many luxuries accompanying the gambling den, which has ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight table games.