There is an interesting background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the dividing line from nearby Thailand, where gambling den betting is not permitted. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime location, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest betting locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling dens ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a couple of restrictions constraints for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; still, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00, and despite the fact visas are for all intents and purposes needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is true of many borders.

The first Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked bateau gambling den, contains one hundred and fifty slots and sixty table games. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machines and sixty six of the normal tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel building that features many comforts on top of the gambling hall, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.