There is a captivating history to the Cambodia casinos that sit just over the border from next door Thailand, where casino betting is illegal. Eight gambling halls are established in a relatively tiny space in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia gambling dens is in a perfect area, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 most popular betting locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai blue-collar workers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the gambling halls ranges from 7.5 million dollars to over twelve and a half million dollars, and there are a number of restrictions requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; however, investment sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 0900 to 5:00 p.m., and although visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are ways around this, as is accurate of most border crossings.

The initial Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat gambling hall, features 150 slots and sixty tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with forty two tables of mini-baccarat banque, four tables of twenty-one, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in the late nineties and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and 5 table games at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 slot machines and 70 gaming tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 96 gaming tables, including eighty seven baccarat (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the familiar table games, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in a multinational vacation and hotel building that contains a number of amenities aside from the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of one hundred and thirty one armed bandits and 88 tables.