A prime destination mainly for bankers and businessmen, Singapore has been drawing tourists with new attractions, the most popular being two casino-complexes which were built after the country revoked a decades-old ban.
Singapore has built safeguards to limit the social impact of gambling but local newspapers have reported incidents of stealing and cheating due to debt incurred at the casinos. The government levies a S$100 (RM242) daily charge for citizens and permanent residents entering the casinos.
“The cases are mostly petty crime cases, not organised... We are closely monitoring casino crimes and so far we can say that the situation there is well under control,” director of public affairs Ng Guat Ting told a news conference.
The two casinos and their related attractions represent the new face of a city with 5.2 million residents that wants to transform itself from a regional trade and financial centre into a place for both work and play and emerge as Asia’s Monte Carlo.
The casinos are among the world’s most profitable. Last week, Las Vegas Sands said its Singapore casino produced a record US$426.9 million (RM1.28 billion) in adjusted quarterly earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation for the three months ended December. The Singapore police said 282 cases were reported in casino gaming halls last year, slightly down from 299 in 2010. For the whole of Singapore, the number of reported cases in 2011 fell 5.3 per cent to 31,404 — the lowest figure in 20 years.
Singapore’s tourism body said tourism receipts from sightseeing and entertainment, which includes gambling, surged 37 per cent to S$5.5 billion last year as visitor arrivals increased 13 per cent to a record 13.2 million.
Last Vegas Sands opened its Singapore property in April 2010 while Genting Singapore, which runs the city-state’s other casino, started operations in February 2010. — Reuters
