Asia-Pacific
Singapore partially opens first casino resort
(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-21 07:24
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SINGAPORE: Singapore's first casino-resort partially opened yesterday, a key part of a government plan to reduce reliance on manufacturing and brand the tightly controlled city-state as a cosmopolitan Asian capital.
Resorts World Sentosa, built by Malaysia's Genting Bhd at a cost of $5 billion, opened 1,340 rooms in four hotels, including a Hard Rock hotel and a property designed by architect Michael Graves. Its 7,300-seat ballroom, one of Asia's largest, will host its first event at the end of this month.
A Universal Studios theme park is expected to open in the coming weeks on the sprawling 49-hectare complex on Sentosa, an island a quarter of a mile off Singapore's coast. No firm date has been set, said Genting chairman Lim Kok Thay, contradicting reports it would open next week.
The resort's casino, the city-state's first, is expected to open in March after Genting's application for a license was delayed from October to December when gambling authorities asked for more information. Officials have said it will probably take three months to process the license.
Singapore-known for its ban on chewing gum sales and canings for crimes some countries would rule as minor-strictly controls public speech and assembly, although it has become socially more liberal and allowed greater artistic freedom in recent years. The decision to allow casinos followed a rare national debate though the government's desired outcome was never in doubt.
The city is also developing its second casino resort, the $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands developed by US-based Las Vegas Sands Corp and due to open in April this year, after its original opening at the end of last year was postponed.
Sands plans to open a casino, 1,000 out of its 2,500 hotel rooms, a part of its huge shopping mall, and one of Southeast Asia's largest convention and exhibition centers as the first phase. Several other attractions at the resort will be unveiled a few months later, including Asia's largest sky park.
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With a well-educated population that speaks English, Chinese and Malay, Singapore is increasingly focusing on finance and tourism, said Irvin Seah, an economist with DBS Bank in Singapore.
"Services are really a green pasture going forward for Singapore," Seah said. "It's the area which we really want to fully exploit and it's where we have a comparative advantage in the region."
Las Vegas Sands, the world's No.2 casino operator by market capitalisation, does not expect its Singapore operations to cannibalize Macao's mass casino market, its Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson said.
Adelson, who expects its Singapore operation to generate $1 billion in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation in its first year.
The two resorts reflect an attempt by Singapore in recent years to ease social restrictions and transform the staid city-state into a more attractive destination for tourists, foreign talent and investors as the country diversifies its economy to stay ahead amid stiffer economic competition from neighboring countries.
The government decided to reverse its long-standing opposition to casinos in 2005 when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced, after a heated public debate, that he will allow two casinos to be introduced into Singapore for the first time.
AP-Reuters-Kyodo
