Insider Casino Information
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino gaming is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, financing sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 17:00, and though visas are apparently required to pass, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.
The first Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling den, features one hundred and fifty slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of chemin de fer, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of 150 one armed bandits and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machines and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling halls in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around resort and hotel building that contains numerous conveniences accompanying the casino, which offers 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and 88 tables.