Singapore Mega Casinos: Marina Bay Sands & Sentosa Island
At least two major casino-based leisure and convention resorts had been building in Singapore. The resorts are developed by Las Vegas Sands and Malaysia’s Genting Group. One of them opened today, signaling the opening of the joint venture in Singapore’s gambling industry.
The resorts are calculated to contribute up to 1.7 percent to Singapore’s GDP once they operate in full blast. But they have also caused nationwide debates for opening up the city state to gambling—something that it has kept out since its independence in 1965.
This has not stopped development, however. If everything goes on schedule, Singapore will open its eyes to two of the biggest casinos in Asia by April, providing competition to its neighbor Macau. Macau is currently touted as the world leader in gaming, serving the region’s high-end gambling market.
Barclays Capital economist Leong Wai Ho, who served in the Singapore government and was involved in planning the casino resorts for three years, noted, “This is an entirely new sector of the economy.”
Development One: Marina Bay Sands
The $5.5bn Marina Bay Sands, the bigger of the two resorts, is located at Singapore’s business district. It will house two theaters, a 4,500-pax convention center, a casino, a 1.2-hectare park that has three floating swimming pools nestled 220 meters above the pavement and 2,500 rooms—all packed in three hotel towers with 55 floors.
Marina Bay Sands chief executive Thomas Arasi is positive that this “once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon” will transform the city state.
Development One: Sentosa Island
The Genting Group’s Resorts World is rising at Sentosa Island. Pegged at $4.7bn, the leisure resort will have four hotels housing 1,800 rooms, a Universal Studios theme park, and an oceanarium—the biggest in the world—set amid gaming tables.
Genting welcomed the first customers to its hotel today. It intends to make the casino operational in time for Chinese New Year, and the other attractions in the latter part of the year.
While the Genting development is on schedule, the Marina Bay Sands has been beset with delays caused by technical difficulties. This is understandable, since the hotel towers have a curving design and the convention center is being built on reclaimed land.
Despite these, Mr. Arasi remains positive: “In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter very much,” adding that the Marina Bay Sands is “the goal is always earlier, but from a long-term perspective it really doesn’t matter.”
But when it comes down to the numbers, the Singapore Government stands to lose from the delays. It commissioned the developments as part of a master scheme to change the image of the country into a resort city. In the process, government intends to boost the manufacturing industry through tourism, and increase revenues three-fold by earning S$30bn or US$21.5bn in revenues by 2015.
Genting Group and Las Vegas Sands have declined to provide revenue targets, but insiders say the Marina Bay Sands is targeting net profits within the $800m and $1bn range by the end of 2011. Insiders at Resorts World, on the other hand, said it is looking at net earnings of $750m.
Economy watchers are optimistic that the developments will achieve their targets. The government is expected to earn 70 to 80 percent of resort revenues this year from gaming, as revenues retail, entertainment and facilities go up over the next one year.
But how does strict anti-money laundering regulation imposed on junketing-gambling trips organized by private operators for rich gamblers impact the resort revenues? Both resorts dismissed the effects. Said Mr. Arasi, “We’ve never expected that we would do a great deal of junket play here in Singapore.”
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