[ English ]

There is an appealing history to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just over the border from bordering Thailand, where gambling establishment betting is illegal. Eight casinos are positioned inside a fairly tiny area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling dens is inside a prime place, a three to four drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling establishments do a flourishing business with Thai workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only incredibly few Westerners. The extraordinary income acquired from the bettings houses ranges from $7.5 million to over 12 million, and there are few constraints or registration prerequisites for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; even so, investment sources are vague. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to five p.m., and even though visas are apparently required to cross, you’ll find ways around this, as is true of many border crossings.

The initial Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in ‘94, but were pushed to close in 1998, leaving only one gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary boat gambling den, attributes a hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den is open round the clock with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of pontoon, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-gow-poker and Tai-Sai.

The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in ninety-nine and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are a hundred and fifty slots and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty-eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Gambling establishment and Resort features three hundred slot machines and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Gambling den, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty-six slot machines and ninety-six gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat banque (the most well-known casino game), Fan Tan, and Pai-gow. Moreover, there may be the Gambling establishment Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Betting house Stud Poker. Another one of the eight casinos in Poipet, also in a hotel, could be the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty-six slots and ninety-seven games. The Star Vegas Gambling establishment is part of an international resort and hotel complex that functions a number of amenities moreover to the gambling establishment, which has 10,000 square feet of a hundred thirty slot machines and 88 table games.

Across the Cambodian border at Asmech/Surin is one casino, the Gambling den O Samet, with one hundred slots and fifty tables of punto banco. Furthermore, the Koh Kong Casino, in the province of Trat, is open daily from nine a.m. to 10:00 p.m., with 100 slots and 4 table games. A smaller gambling establishment, Le Macau Gambling den and Hotel, opened not too long ago at Bavet on the Vietnamese border.