There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just across the border from nearby Thailand, in which gambling hall gambling is against the law. Eight gambling dens are anchored in a relatively tiny location in the city of Poipet in Cambodia. This group of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime destination, a three to 4 hour travel from Bangkok and Macao, the 2 biggest gaming centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai workers and guests from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal income acquired from the gambling dens ranges from $7.5 million to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of controls constraints for gambling den ownership. Ownership is assumed to be mainly Thai; however, funding sources are vague. The borders are formally open from 9:00 a.m. to 1700, and even though visas are supposedly needed to pass, there are methods around this, as is true of many border crossings.

The original Cambodia gambling halls premiered in Phnom Penh in the mid nineties, but were forced to close in 1998, leaving only 1 gambling den in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a stationary barge casino, contains one hundred and fifty slots and sixty table games. The Naga gambling den is open all hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and a single table each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The original gambling den in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly opened. There are 150 slot machine games and five table games at the Golden Crown and one hundred and four one armed bandits and 68 gaming tables at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 slot machine games and 96 gaming tables, including 87 punto banco (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slot machine games and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as a single table of Casino Stud Poker. An additional of the 8 gambling halls in Poipet, also a part of a hotel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of a multinational resort and hotel building that features a number of comforts accompanying the casino, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slots and eighty eight tables.