Archive for April, 2018

Cambodia Casinos

April 23rd, 2018
[ English ]

There is a captivating background to the Cambodia gambling halls that lie just over the dividing line from neighboring Thailand, in which casino wagering is banned. Eight casinos are situated in a relatively small location in the municipality of Poipet in Cambodia. This collection of Cambodia casinos is in an excellent spot, a 3 to four hour trip from Bangkok and Macao, the two biggest betting centers in Asia. Cambodia gambling dens do a huge business with Thai laborers and travelers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with only very few Westerners. The phenomenal capital gained from the gambling halls ranges from seven and a half million dollars to over 12.5 million dollars, and there are a few restrictions constraints for casino ownership. Ownership is presumed to be mostly Thai; however, investment sources are cryptic. The borders are ceremoniously open from 09:00 to 17:00, and though visas are allegedly needed to pass, there are methods and means around this, as is accurate of most border crossings.

The original Cambodia gambling dens premiered in Phnom Penh in 1994, but were required to close in the late nineties, leaving just 1 gambling hall in the capital, the Naga Resort. The Naga, a docked boat casino, contains one hundred and fifty one armed bandits and 60 gaming tables. The Naga gambling den is open all day and night with forty two tables of mini-baccarat, 4 tables of blackjack, 10 of roulette, 2 of Caribbean Stud Poker, and 1 each of Pai-Gow and Tai-Sai.

The initial gambling hall in Poipet, the Holiday Palace, premiered in 1999 and the Golden Crown quickly followed. There are one hundred and fifty slot machines and 5 tables at the Golden Crown and 104 slots and sixty eight table games at the Holiday Palace. The newest Holiday Palace Casino and Resort features three hundred one armed bandits and seventy tables and the Princess Hotel and Casino, also in Poipet, has 166 one armed bandits and ninety six gaming tables, including 87 baccarat chemin de fer (the most dominant game), Fan Tan, and Pai Gow. Additionally, there is the Casino Tropicana, with one hundred and thirty five one armed bandits and sixty six of the normal tables, as well as one table of Casino Stud Poker. One more of the 8 gambling dens in Poipet, also in a motel, is the Princess Casino with 166 slot machines and 97 casino games. The Star Vegas Casino is part of an all-inclusive resort and hotel building that features a number of amenities in addition to the gambling den, which has 10,000 sq.ft. of one hundred and thirty slot machines and eighty eight gaming tables.

Bingo in New Mexico

April 22nd, 2018
[ English ]

New Mexico has a bitter gaming past. When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was signed by Congress in Nineteen Eighty Nine, it seemed like New Mexico might be one of the states to get on the Indian casino craze. Politics assured that wouldn’t be the case.

The New Mexico governor Bruce King assembled a panel in 1990 to draft a contract with New Mexico American Indian bands. When the panel came to an agreement with two big local bands a year later, Governor King declined to sign the bargain. He would hold up a deal until 1994.

When a new governor took office in 1995, it seemed that American Indian betting in New Mexico was now a certainty. But when the new Governor signed the accord with the Indian tribes, anti-gambling forces were able to tie the accord up in courts. A New Mexico court ruled that the Governor had overstepped his bounds in signing the deal, thus costing the state of New Mexico hundreds of thousands of dollars in licensing fees over the next several years.

It took the CNA, signed by the New Mexico legislature, to get the ball rolling on a full contract amongst the State of New Mexico and its Native bands. 10 years had been squandered for gambling in New Mexico, including Amerindian casino Bingo.

The nonprofit Bingo business has grown from Nineteen Ninety-Nine. In that year, New Mexico non-profit game providers acquired only $3,048. This number grew to $725,150 in 2000, and surpassed a million dollars in 2001. Nonprofit Bingo earnings have grown steadily since then. 2005 saw the largest year, with $1,233,289 grossed by the providers.

Bingo is apparently popular in New Mexico. All sorts of operators try for a piece of the pie. Hopefully, the politicians are done batting around gaming as an important matter like they did in the 90’s. That is probably wishful thinking.