There is an interesting story to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling hall wagering is banned. Eight gambling dens are established in a relatively tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of controls requirements for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mostly Thai; still, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and even though visas are apparently needed to pass, there are methods around this, as is real of most borders.
The first Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked barge gambling den, features 150 one armed bandits and sixty tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slot machines and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the normal tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a comprehensive resort and hotel building that highlights a number of conveniences in addition to the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.
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