08.11
Cambodia Gambling Halls
There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just across the border from next door Thailand, where gambling den wagering is prohibited. Eight casinos are based in a generally small area in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent location, a three to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million, and there are a number of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is required to be largely Thai; however, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 1700, and even though visas are allegedly needed to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most borders.
The first Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat casino, features 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open all day and night with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of vingt-et-un, 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 quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and sixty six of the common tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that features a number of amenities on top of the gambling den, which has ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight tables.