Cambodia Gambling Halls
December 19th, 2009 at 6:21
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that sit just across the dividing line from nearby Thailand, in which gambling den gaming is not legal. Eight gambling dens are established in a generally tiny location in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in an excellent location, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia gambling halls do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; however, financial sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is true of many borders.
The original Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge gambling hall, contains 150 one armed bandits and sixty tables. The Naga gambling hall is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat, four tables of twenty-one, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown before long opened. There are 150 slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 slots and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six table games, including 87 punto banco (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-around vacation and hotel complex that features many luxuries in addition to the casino, which provides ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight table games.