There is an appealing background to the Cambodia casinos that lie just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which gambling den gambling is illegal. Eight casinos are established in a relatively tiny area in the metropolis of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia gambling dens is in a prime spot, a 3 to 4 hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two most popular gambling centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a thriving business with Thai laborers and visitors from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with just a couple of Westerners. The phenomenal income accrued from the casinos ranges from seven and a half million dollars to more than 12.5 million dollars, and there are a number of controls requirements for casino ownership. Ownership is assumed to be largely Thai; still, funding sources are ambiguous. The borders are officially open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are supposedly required to cross, there are means around this, as is true of most border crossings.

The initial Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in 1998, leaving only a single casino in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked ship casino, features 150 slot machines and sixty gaming tables. The Naga casino is open 24 hours with 42 tables of mini-baccarat chemin de fer, 4 tables of 21, ten of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial casino in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown soon opened. A total of one hundred and fifty slot machine games and five tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slot machines and 68 table games at the Holiday Palace. The newer Holiday Palace Casino and Resort highlights 300 one armed bandits and seventy table games and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has one hundred and sixty six slots and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat banque (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Also, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five slots and sixty six of the normal gaming tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the eight casinos in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with one hundred and sixty six slot machines and 97 games. The Star Vegas Casino is is located in an international vacation and hotel compound that contains many luxuries accompanying the gambling den, which contains 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight table games.