There is an interesting background to the Cambodia gambling dens that sit just across the border from neighboring Thailand, in which gambling hall gaming is not legal. Eight casinos are situated in a relatively tiny location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This band of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent area, a three to four hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest wagering centers in Asia. Cambodia casinos do a huge business with Thai blue-collar workers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a few Westerners. The astonishing capital accrued from the gambling halls ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a couple of limitations constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is presumed to be largely Thai; however, financing sources are cryptic. The borders are formally open from 0900 to 1700, and although visas are allegedly necessary to cross, there are ways around this, as is true of most borders.

The 1st Cambodia gambling dens opened in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving just a single gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, an anchored bateau gambling hall, contains 150 slots and 60 tables. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-punto banco, 4 tables of vingt-et-un, ten of roulette, two of Caribbean Stud Poker, and one each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The first gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, opened in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights three hundred slot machine games and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slots and 96 gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. In addition, there is the Casino Tropicana, with 135 slot machines and sixty six of the normal tables, as well as 1 table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety seven table games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that highlights numerous luxuries accompanying the casino, which houses ten thousand square feet of 130 one armed bandits and eighty eight tables.