03.20
Cambodia Gambling Dens
There is an appealing history to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where casino gambling is banned. Eight gambling halls are based in a relatively small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in a perfect spot, a three to 4 hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The astonishing income acquired from the casinos ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; still, financial sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are for all intents and purposes needed to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is real of many borders.
The first Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat casino, features 150 slots and sixty gaming tables. The Naga river boat never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 one armed bandits and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 one armed bandits and 66 of the normal table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an all-inclusive vacation and hotel compound that features numerous comforts accompanying the gambling hall, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 slot machine games and eighty eight tables.