03.06
Cambodia Gambling Dens
There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the border from nearby Thailand, in which casino gambling is illegal. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling halls is in a prime area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing income acquired 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 requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are ceremoniously open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are apparently needed to cross, there are methods around this, as is accurate of most border crossings.
The original Cambodia gambling halls opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were forced to close in the late nineties, leaving just a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary bateau casino, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga river boat never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The original gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown before long followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machine games and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machine games and 96 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 common tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety seven casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel complex that contains a number of comforts on top of the casino, which houses ten thousand sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and eighty eight gaming tables.