Cambodia Gambling Halls
February 11th, 2010 at 4:21
There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that reside just over the border from next door Thailand, where gambling hall betting is against the law. Eight gambling halls are based in a generally tiny space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This conclave of Cambodia casinos is in a prime location, a 3 to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two largest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital acquired from the casinos ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, financial sources are ambiguous. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 17:00, and even though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are methods and means around this, as is true of most borders.
The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored barge gambling hall, highlights 150 one armed bandits and 60 table games. The Naga gambling hall never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of 21, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of 150 slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slots and 68 tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features 300 one armed bandits and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 table games, including 87 baccarat (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machine games and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machine games and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational resort and hotel compound that highlights many comforts on top of the gambling den, which provides ten thousand square feet of 130 one armed bandits and 88 gaming tables.