Top Secret Casino Strategy
There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia casinos that reside just over the border from next door Thailand, where casino gambling is illegal. Eight gambling halls are anchored in a generally small space in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect location, a 3 to four hour drive from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 largest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The amazing income gained from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to more than twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a few restrictions requirements for gambling hall ownership. Ownership is required to be mainly Thai; however, investment sources are vague. The borders are formally 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 real of many border crossings.
The 1st Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau gambling den, features 150 slot machine games and sixty gaming tables. The Naga gambling den never closes with forty two tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.
The first casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown soon opened. 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 features three hundred slot machine games and seventy gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six one armed bandits and ninety six table games, including eighty seven baccarat chemin de fer (the most popular game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and 66 of the common table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight gambling dens in Poipet, again a part of a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international resort and hotel building that features a number of conveniences aside from the casino, which provides 10,000 sq.ft. of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight gaming tables.