There is a fascinating background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just over the border from neighboring Thailand, where gambling hall gaming is illegal. Eight gambling dens are situated in a relatively small area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling halls is in an excellent area, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular wagering locations in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a thriving business with Thai workers and tourists from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income 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 mostly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 1700, and although visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is real of many borders.

The original Cambodia gambling dens opened 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, a moored barge gambling hall, contains 150 slot machine games and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling hall never closes with 42 tables of mini-punto banco, four tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slots and five tables at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four slot machine games and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort contains 300 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 ninety six table games, including 87 baccarat (the most beloved game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slots and sixty six of the familiar tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 casinos in Poipet, again in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an international vacation and hotel building that contains numerous conveniences on top of the casino, which houses 10,000 square feet of 130 slot machines and eighty eight tables.