Top Secret Casino Strategy
There is a fascinating story to the Cambodia gambling dens that reside just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which casino betting is prohibited. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a relatively tiny area in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent spot, a three to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest gaming locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very couple of Westerners. The phenomenal capital acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million, and there are a couple of controls constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; although, investment sources are vague. The borders are ceremoniously open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are for all intents and purposes required to pass, there are ways around this, as is true of most borders.
The first Cambodia casinos opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just one casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a moored ship casino, features one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 60 tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, 10 of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. A total of 150 slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machine games and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains three hundred one armed bandits and 70 tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and 66 of the normal table games, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and ninety seven games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel building that highlights many amenities on top of the gambling den, which provides 10,000 square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.