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There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, where casino gambling is not allowed. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in a prime spot, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gambling locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The amazing capital accrued from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mainly Thai; still, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and though visas are supposedly necessary to pass, there are means around this, as is true of many borders.

The initial Cambodia casinos premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving only a single gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored ship casino, features 150 one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga gambling den never closes with 42 tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of 150 slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machines and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The latest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machines and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 table games, including eighty seven punto banco (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and 66 of the familiar table games, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. Another one of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that contains a number of amenities aside from the gambling den, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty slot machines and 88 tables.