There is a fascinating history to the Cambodia gambling halls that sit just across the border from nearby Thailand, where gambling den gambling is not permitted. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally small location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime area, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; although, funding sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 1700, and though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of many borders.

The initial Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge casino, contains 150 slots and sixty table games. The Naga river boat is open all hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon followed. There are 150 slot machines and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and ninety six gaming tables, including eighty seven punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and 66 of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel compound that contains many amenities aside from the gambling hall, which provides 10,000 square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight table games.