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There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that lie just over the dividing line from next door Thailand, where casino betting is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent area, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is required to be mostly Thai; although, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and despite the fact visas are apparently needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most border crossings.

The first Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary ship gambling den, contains one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and sixty table games. The Naga casino never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two 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 one hundred and fifty slots and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machines and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and 66 of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 one armed bandits and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive vacation and hotel building that contains many amenities in addition to the casino, which houses 10,000 square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machine games and 88 tables.