As an avid gambler, I thought I'd start a thread on casinos at various mongering destinations. I'm hoping others could contribute as well as I know there are places and factors I haven't considered. Nothing beats the thrill of chasing skirts mixed in with recreational gambling.

IMO, here are some of the better places to gamble in order of preference.

COLOMBIA: Many will be surprised at how good the casino action is in Colombia. With the Dollar being fairly strong to the Colombia peso, betting $5U.S. is a big wager. Most of the casinos have good looking waitresses and dealers, best of all, the drinks are free.
I've been to the casinos in Cali and CTG and they all have the table games that we know and love -- blackjack, slots, carribean stud poker (they call it different) and some other table games that I didn't know.

In Cali, the best casino is located at the Unicentro Mall and the tables are wide open and you often play by yourself. Lots of beautiful waitresses and all the drinks are free. There is another Casino in North Cali, in Versailles, under the huge radio tower. A small casino but everyone is very friendly. Many tough looking guys with gold chains will be your tablemates.

CTG has better evolved casinos. My favorite is the Perla Casino next door to the famed LDV bar. This casino is big, and you'll see lots of working gals from next door playing slots or gambling. I got lucky with meeting gals this way, and often times, after I find a partner at LDV, we go and gamble and get sloshed on the free alcohol. It often gets crowded though. There is another big casino, I believe it's called the Atlantico Casino on Ave. San Martin (main tourist drag). Right near the beach so its a good place to cool off from the humidity.

COSTA RICA: In the Gringo Gulch area of San Jose, there are several good casinos. My favorite is the casino inside the Del Rey Hotel, next to the Blue Marlin bar. Excellent location to check out the girls while gambling. They have blackjack (shoes) and tuti (carribean stud poker) and all the rest. You'll see girls circling inside this casino and often playing the games, usually the slots. The Morazon hotel has a decent casino as well and it's less crowded than the Del Rey. Lots of other casinos to mention in this Gringo Gulch area worth a look, particulary the casino directly across from Del Rey and right next to it (forgot the name). They also have great ATMS with good exchange rates.

PANAMA: I thought Panama had the highest number of casinos located all over town. However, because the U.S. dollar is their currency, it gets expensive. Also, the casinos get really crowded.

MACAU: This place is the "Las Vegas" of the orient, they have huge long established casinos (Lisboa) plus a lot of American casinos (Sands, Wynn) coming in or already in. Gambling is difficiult here as there are many games I didn't recognize and the minimums appeared to be on the high side. Also, they have very strict dress codes (pants, shirt, shoes, etc).

PHILIPPINES: I've only been to two casinos in the Philippines briefly, just to look, one located inside the Heritage Hotel in Pasay City (Manila) and the other located in Angeles City. Both are named Filipino Casino or something and they have a strict dress code, i.e. no shorts or what not. The casinos appear to have the familiar table action with some twists and both casinos I visited were very crowded, mostly locals. Since the dollar is so strong against the local currency, gambling for minimal stakes is possible. I saw craps, blackjack type of game, slots, and roulette wheels.

All things being equal, I prefer a destination where I can gamble and many times, I've subsidized my trips with the winnings (easier to win in Colombia IMO) and taught many a working girl the joys or evils of gambling. Great way to load up on some free boos and many casinos also have free snacks or even buffets for the gamblers.

Well, there are casinos in Amsterdam, or at least there used to be. One at Rembrandt Square and the other was actually in the international terminal at Schipol Airport. If you consider anyplace in the Caribbean to be a monger destination, most of the islands have casinos of some sort.

Did you check out the Casinos in Cambodia? I'm not a gambler (in Casinos anyway) but they looked very nice. Certainly the nicest modern structures in the whole country. There were also very high end, fancy Casinos in Myanmar. 4 star places in a land that is otherwise a shithole (except for some stunningly beautiful women as well)

Catacony, appreciate the info, I haven't been to Amsterdam or the Carribean to monger yet, but am always interested in checking those places out.

Sancho, I actually visited the casinos in Sihaunokeville and they were very nice. But I always found it to be crowded and no tables open. Lots of Thais who prefer table games that I didn't recognize involving dominoes, dice, etc. One thing about Asian Casino is you come across some seriously addicted gamble types that bet the farm and play unpredictably. The casinos in Central and South American countries have recreational gamblers who actually know the rules and know how to play.

I had fun and some luck gambling in Australia. Casinos practically everywhere. Though because of limited casino competition, comps are harder to attain and stingy when compared to Vegas.

I enjoy gambling, but win or lose, I want my appropiate comp.

Gambling in Indonesia is supposed to be illegal, but there are numerous gambling halls to frequent. Take Jakarta, in the Kota area downtown, you can find a few non-descript buildings where you can play high stakes baccarat, the game of choice. And a couple of other different games of chance.

These are owned and run by Indo Chinese, who pay off the police and politicians on a daily basis $10,000. dollars. That is correct, 10 grand USD a day, for protection. But somehow they make a profit?

The Indo Chinese have money, and some love gamble.

The best place for gambling in cambodia and from Thailand is Poipet a border town next to Aranaprathet Thailand
Theres brothels around town and casino/hotel staff will ask you if you want a woman,
Read my reports on poipet

Naga World Casino in Phnom Penh looks kind of cool. Gotta' love a place that has a rifle totin' sniper in the upstairs skybridge thingy covering the taxi drop off. I can't comment on the gaming though. Gambling does not appeal to me. I just know it's the best (possibly only) place in Phnom Penh to get a "cash advance" off your debit card when you run out of money at 3:00am. Funny thing about casinos. No matter where you go in the world, casinos are amazingly proficient at helping you get access to your funds.

I have been in this casino
Its a bit expensive,
100TBH a chip for the roulette,
when its only 10TBH a chip in poipet
and yes you can get a cash advance in this casino
so it has its uses

There's a casino in Kuala Lumpur, at Genting Highlands. Beautiful area, and cool, because of the higher elevation. Packed areas...you play in the "high stakes" areas, as a foreigner. Roulette wheel has a different number sequence than US--is that European? Took me 30 minutes to memorize the wheel and within 2 hours I won enough to pay for my entire trip, including Raffles in Singapore. Ah, memories....

In the Phils, the Hyatt Casino in Malate is the nicest one in the Phils. Easy to get comps. If they don't offer just tell the dealer you want a sandwich or a drink. The beers come in twos. Comps in Angeles seemed hard to get. Besides the many Casino Philipino with only slots, there are Casinos with table games in Cebu and Davao that I've been to. I'm quite interested in Poipet. Thanks for the info. I may check that out in Dec/Jan.

Poipet is a great place to gamble, but now i get a plane straight to Phnom pehn and miss the place out, the problem with poipet is the bus ride to Phnom pehn very bumpy,changing the subject American roulette has 0 and 00, were European has 0 only, and how do you manage to win at roulette, you must be japanese, they always seem to win at roulette. LOL

Great thing about some of the casinos in the Phils is many of them don't have the 00, so that helps the odds. They also have Rapid Roulette, at the Hyatt Casino, so if the tables are too crowded (or too smokey for my tastes), you can play the machines with the real time croupier. Great thing about it is they usually have Filipinas with a consistent roll, occasionally. However, these have the 00. Sometimes I'll just stay with the girl of my choice and give HER the Double O O's--heh heh!

This last trip (Sept/Oct) I won 89k php the first night and proceeded to lose it all the next few. Then I got into the slots in Angeles and after I fed the machine for 2 hours I left and the manager won 100,000.....damn! Should I stay or should I go?!