Relaxing Its Grip to Play for a Winning Hand
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SINGAPORE -- Casinos would be allowed in Singapore only "over my dead body," Lee Kuan Yew, the country's founder and a fierce opponent of gambling, once said.
The so-called minister mentor of a government led by his eldest son, Mr. Lee, 86, still casts a long shadow over this city-state. But two casinos, as grandiose and gaudy as anything in Las Vegas or Macao, have opened here recently -- with his blessing.
Through their sheer size and proximity to the city center, the casinos have already transformed Singapore's landscape. It is too early to tell, though, whether they will succeed, as Singapore hopes, in transforming its image, culture and mindset.
The casinos are the most conspicuous symbols of the government's more ambitious goal of loosening up this tightly regulated society and positioning it against international hubs like Dubai or even New York. At the same time, forced to operate under some of the world's stiffest restrictions, they reflect Singapore's enduring fears of loosening up too much and too fast.
To discourage residents from gambling, the government collects casino entrance fees -- $70 for a 24-hour period or $1,400 for a full year -- from all Singaporeans and permanent residents. Almost 30,000 people, mostly recipients of public assistance or those who have filed for bankruptcy, are automatically barred from entering. While hoping to draw free-spending Chinese, Indonesians and other foreigners to the establishments, the government has imposed strict reporting regulations that make it difficult for the casinos to draw high rollers, who typically make up a disproportionate share of casino revenues.
"We do agree that some of the rules may be a little unfriendly to the casino business, but we understand where it's coming from and we understand why," said Robin Goh, a spokesman for Resorts World Sentosa, a $4.7 billion, 121-acre retreat that opened in February. Mr. Goh added that there were "fears" that casino gambling "could bring about a lot of social ills to what has always been a kind of pristine, squeaky-clean image of Singapore."
Since its opening, the Malaysian-owned Resorts World Sentosa -- which includes a Universal Studios theme park and buildings designed by the architect Michael Graves -- has averaged an occupancy rate of 90 percent at its hotels on weekends and 80 percent on weekdays, Mr. Goh said. Tickets to Universal Studios have sold out on several weekends, he said. Mr. Goh declined to release details about the visitors to the casino itself.
First Published June 7, 2010 2:00 am
