Casino for Dummies
There is an appealing background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino gambling is against the law. Eight casinos are based in a relatively small area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent destination, a three to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a thriving business with Thai laborers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; although, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many borders.
The original Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored bateau gambling hall, features one hundred and fifty slots and 60 tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machines and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slots and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the common gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slots and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a comprehensive resort and hotel complex that highlights many comforts aside from the gambling den, which contains ten thousand sq.ft. of 130 slots and eighty eight tables.