There is an appealing story to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which casino gaming is against the law. Eight casinos are anchored in a relatively tiny space in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a number of controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are apparently required to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most borders.
The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened 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 barge casino, contains 150 slots and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred slot machines and seventy tables 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 baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and 66 of the familiar tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight casinos in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel complex that features numerous luxuries on top of the gambling hall, which contains 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.
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