There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling den gambling is not legal. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of many border crossings.

The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored barge gambling den, features one hundred and fifty slot machines and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that contains numerous luxuries accompanying the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of 130 slots and eighty eight tables.