The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20050418225515/http://www.reuters.com:80/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=8207729&src=rss/lifeAndLeisureNews
Life & Leisure News Article | Reuters.com
Reuters.com   About  |  For Reuters professional and media products  |  For Reuters professional and media clients only  |  Careers
Login/Register  | Help & Info
Jump to
YOU ARE HERE: Home > News > Life & Leisure > Article
advertisement
Singapore Gives Green Light to Two Casinos
Mon Apr 18, 2005 03:45 AM ET
Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS  (Page 1 of 2)  
Top News
Cardinals to Resume Voting After First Black Smoke
Iraq Officials Retract Statements on Assassination
Armstrong Will Quit After 2005 Tour De France

By Jason Szep

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore approved on Monday a controversial proposal to legalese casino gambling, clearing the way for two multi-billion dollar casino resorts to bring in tourist dollars and overhaul the island's staid image.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told parliament the government had decided to approve two casino developments worth a combined $3.0 billion, one on Marina Bay near the downtown city center and one on the resort island of Sentosa.

"We cannot stand still. The whole region is on the move," Lee said in his first major policy decision since taking power in August. "If we don't change, where will we be in 20 years?"

The casino resort is central to Singapore's ambitious target of doubling tourist numbers to 17 million a year, tripling their annual spending to US$18 billion, creating about 100,000 jobs and overturning the stereotype of a staid, sleepy island.

The casino plan -- part of a broader effort to re-engineer Singapore's economy and turn the affluent city-state into a Monaco of the East -- provoked a rare open policy debate over whether the benefits would outweigh potential risks of gambling addiction and crime.

The decision comes as big casino operators are turning to Asia for expansion and could spur regions such as Thailand, India, Taiwan and Japan into legalizing casinos after explosive growth in casinos in the Chinese city of Macau, analysts say.

Singapore has received 19 concept proposals from nearly every big name in the global casino business -- including Las Vegas giants Harrah's Entertainment Inc., MGM Mirage, Kerzner International Ltd. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., and Australia's TabCorp Holdings

Potential developers include Singapore's CapitaLand Ltd. and Keppel Land Ltd.

A BIG PROJECT

The casino, expected to open its doors in 2009, will form the epicenter of a resort boasting theme parks, the city's biggest shopping plaza, a museum, convention halls and a 1,500-2,000 room hotel either on Singapore's Sentosa Island or closer to downtown.    Continued ...



  1 | 2   Next
More Life & Leisure
In Search of Heroes, Germany Reclaims Einstein
Black African Slave Legacy Lingers in Mexico
Bad Days for South Korea's Type-B Men
Silent Suffering of Women with Childbirth Injury
Singapore Gives Green Light to Two Casinos
 


Reuters.com Help & Info. | Contact Us | Feedback | Advertise | Disclaimer | Copyright | Privacy | Corrections | Partner Newspapers