There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from next door Thailand, where gambling hall gambling is banned. Eight gambling halls are established in a generally tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a 3 to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; although, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and despite the fact visas are apparently required to pass, there are means around this, as is real of most borders.

The first Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling hall, features 150 slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred one armed bandits and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and ninety six gaming tables, 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 one armed bandits and sixty six of the common tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel complex that features a number of comforts in addition to the gambling hall, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 table games.