Singapore opens casino doors

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Government scrapped a four-decade ban on casinos to boost tourism, clearing the way for companies including Las Vegas Sands Corp and MGM Mirage to compete for the right to build an entertainment complex in the city.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the decision yesterday in Parliament. The city earlier received 19 casino-development proposals from companies such as Harrah's Entertainment, Wynn Resorts and Melbourne-based Tabcorp Holdings.

Lee, 53, has said a casino will create jobs and lure tourists to the city, where the economy is forecast to expand this year at half the 8.4 per cent pace of 2004. Macau, where 17 casinos operate, had three times the economic growth and twice as many visitors as Singapore in 2004.

"It's great for Singapore," said businessman Ron Sim. "If you want to be a globalised city, you've got to have more buzz."

The island nation, which already allows betting on horseracing, soccer matches and lotteries, was considering whether to have gaming within an "integrated resort" that would include a convention centre, retail outlets and restaurants. Two sites are being considered, one in downtown Singapore and one on the southern island of Sentosa, and the Government is asking for development proposals, Lee said.

Other bidders for the project include Hong Kong-based Melco International Development and Malaysia's Genting.

Singapore had 8.3 million visitors last year. Tourists spent S$9.6 billion ($8.15 billion), accounting for 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product. The city wants to triple tourism revenue to S$30 billion by 2015 as manufacturers move to lower-cost countries including China and India.

"We have to be prepared to look at a different world, see a landscape that's changing and ask what we need to do to keep up," said Lee.

Singapore expects economic growth of as little as 3 per cent this year, compared with 8.4 per cent in 2004.

Lee's father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, said the city may suffer economically should it keep the ban.

"The world could pass us by."

The project faces opposition in a nation where films are censored, drug dealers are executed and gambling is restricted.

Religious and social groups such as Focus on the Family say allowing a casino in Singapore may increase loan sharking and prostitution, and lure people into debt. To alleviate concern, the Government proposes a S$100 daily levy on Singapore citizens and permanent residents entering the casino.

- BLOOMBERG