I’m a casino table games dealer. I was dealing four-card poker. The lady on my first seat had a really good hand going for her. When I flipped over the second-to-last card, she took a drink of coffee and then looked down, and when she saw it was the card she needed, she choked herself out of excitement and spit out her coffee all over the felt table, the cards, the chip rack, and my arm. The dealers can’t help you win money. This is one very most annoying part of being a casino dealer. The best casinos in Singapore might be few in number but they attract people from far and wide, offering some real glitz and glamor to go along with the full range of casino games that you’d expect. The first Singapore casino only opened in 2006, so this is an industry still in its infancy when compared with Las. Singapore - Casino Revenue Report - 2010 to 2019. Latest quarterly Casino Revenue Report data for Singapore. The data released for the city-state contains the following information: Casino gaming revenue and implied market shares for Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa. There are approximately 210 data points in this document. The Marina Bay Sands (abbreviation: MBS) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay within the Downtown Core district of Singapore.At its opening in 2010, it was billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion (US$6.88 billion), including the land cost. It is owned by the Singaporean affiliate of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
Singapore is a conservative nation that preaches hard work and strict discipline. For evidence of the latter, in the past Singapore has banned chewing gum and caned foreigners for overstaying their travel visas.
But seeing the potential for more tourism and thousands of jobs, Singapore stepped outside its traditionally conservative nature to legalize gambling in the mid-2000s.
By 2010, two of the world’s biggest casino resorts—Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa—opened in Singapore and instantly made it a marque gambling destination.
The island city state located between Malaysia and Indonesia doesn’t want its own citizens gambling, imposing a S$100, or US$70, daily fee for any local who enters a casino.
But they now welcome millions of foreign tourists to their mega casino resorts every year.
If you plan on visiting Singapore casinos, keep reading to find out more info on the two casino resorts, local attractions, and 7 tips for planning your Singapore gambling trip.
Singapore Casinos
Marina Bay Sands
Aesthetics and Design
With three giant hotel towers and a rooftop deck called SkyPark connecting them, Marina Bay Sands really stands out in Singapore’s skyline.
The international architect firm Aedas designed the complex’s look, and they did an excellent job of creating a memorable sight.
Marina Bay Sands was originally set to open in 2009, but its owner, the Las Vegas Sands Corp, faced labor shortages and increasing material costs. Luckily, Las Vegas Sands was able to complete the project the following year without sacrificing their original vision.
The inside of the resort was designed by the world famous Moshe Safdie, who says that he used card decks as part of his inspiration. Given the immense size of Marina Bay Sands, it’s difficult to see this vision play out when looking across the resort’s many sections.
While the entire complex is a modern marvel, nothing stands out more than the 340 meter long SkyPark—a boat like structure that offers amazing views of Singapore and the Marina Bay below.
Amenities
As an S$8 billion, approx. $5.7b US, project, it’s little surprise that Marina Bay Sands offers fantastic amenities.
The headliner is the SkyPark infinity pool, which, at 146 meters long, is the world’s biggest elevated swimming pool. Resting 191 meters above ground, the pool offers incredible views of Singapore.
SkyPark patrons can also visit nightclubs like Ce La Vie, rooftop gardens, and a public observatory deck.
Down on the ground, the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands offer over 300 stores within nearly 1 million square feet. Some of the stores located here include: Armani, Chanel, Cartier, Dior, Dunhill, Emporio, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Miu Miu, Salvatore Ferragamo, and Vertu.
Much like Las Vegas Sands’ Venetian properties in Macau and Vegas, a canal runs alongside these shops. You can take a romantic gondola ride down the canal while the gondolier sings.
Casino
The main casino floor is a table player’s dream, with 1,000 tables offering everything from blackjack and baccarat to roulette and sic bo. You’ll also find 1,400 slot machines spread throughout the gaming floor.
Most of the tables and slots are on the ground level, giving you a wide variety of games within a small vicinity.
But the Marina Bay Sands casino measures 4 stories, with additional slot machines and tables on floors 2 4. Just keep in mind that much of the upper floors are reserved for VIP gamblers.
Hotel Rooms
With over 2,500 rooms, the Marina Bay Sands hotel offers a wide variety of hotel rooms and suites.
The smallest option is the Deluxe Room, which spans 39 square meters, or420 sq. ft.. Despite being the most basic room, the Deluxe offers a pleasing design, small lounge area, LCD TV, and good views in many cases.
At the high end is the Chairman Suite, which spans 629 square meters, or 6,670 sq. ft. Sitting on the highest floor, the Chairman Suites offer stunning views of Singapore, a grand piano, two living rooms, two TVs, and four bedrooms.
Location
Marina Bay Sands is located at the southern end of Singapore on Sentosa Island, just a couple of miles away from rival Marina Bay Sands.
The only downside to Marina Bay’s location is that it’s approximately 10 miles from the Changi Airport, which makes for a long drive through traffic to get here.
Restaurants
Marina Bay Sands offers several celebrity chef restaurants, including DB Bistro & Oyster Bar by Daniel Boulud, Long Chim by David Thompson, Osteria Mozza by Mario Batali, Pizzeria by Batali, and Spago by Wolfgang Puck.
Spago is especially interesting because you’ll not only enjoy a fine menu prepared by Puck, but also see the SkyPark views too.
Special Attractions
Shaped like a lotus and designed by Safdie, the ArtScience Museum offers 21 gallery spaces within 50,000 square feet. Some of the museum’s different galleries include Genghis Khan: The Exhibition, Van Gogh Alive – The Exhibition, Harry Potter: The Exhibition, and the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,
Continuing with the art theme, the resort also contains an Art Path that offers pieces by famous artists. Each piece is meant to include environmental influences such as light, water, and wind.
Two more big attractions here include the Sands Theatre and Grand Theatre, which seat 1,680 and 2,155 people respectively. These theaters feature world class performance troupes that put on dazzling shows for spectators.
Resorts World Sentosa
Aesthetics and Design
Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa opened just a few months before Marina Bay Sands in February 2010.
In contrast to Marina Bay, Resorts World’s layout is really spread out, with hotel towers and attractions covering 120 acres.
American architect Michael Graves designed the resort, creating a different theme for each of the six hotel sections. The massive complex is divided into central, east, and west zones.
The central zone is the largest, containing four hotel towers, the casino, several restaurants, and featured shows.
The west zone contains two hotel towers, salons and spas, the Marine Life Park, and the Maritime Experiential Museum. The east zone features Universal Studios Singapore, which is Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park.
Amenities
The main amenities at Resorts World Sentosa include their spa, convention space, and special event areas.
Called ESPA, Resort World’s spa covers 10,000 square feet and offers a variety of treatments. These range from standard massages and saunas, to body cleansing and skin hydrating techniques. You’ll also find garden spas in the ESPA area that offer further relaxation.
As for the meeting space, Resorts World caters to business and social events, weddings, and birthday parties.
Casino
The Singapore government capped Resorts World’s casino at 15,000 square meters or 165,000 sq. ft., making it almost the same size as Marina Bay Sand’s gambling floor of 160,000 sq. ft..
You’ll find more slot machines, 2,400, here, but less table games, 500. Nevertheless, both numbers should be more than enough to satisfy the average gambler.
Table games include: baccarat, blackjack, Caribbean stud poker, craps, Pai gow, pontoon, Texas hold’em, and progressive 3 card poker.
As mentioned earlier, Singapore has strange rules in place that require Singapore citizens and permanent residents to pay S$100 for a daily pass, or $2,000 for a yearly casino membership. Given that foreigners are allowed in for free, this law is obviously a deterrent to prevent locals from gambling.
Hotel Rooms, Towers
The six hotels at Resorts World combine to offer 1,840 rooms, which is about four fifths the size of Marina Bay Sands.
In the central zone, you’ll find Crockfords Tower, Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel, and Hard Rock Hotel.
Crockfords is an 11 story building that overlooks Singapore Harbour. Its bottom floor houses the casino, while there’s a private gambling floor on the 10th floor.
Hotel Michael is also an 11 story tower that’s named after the architect, Michael Graves.
Festive Hotel is geared towards families and houses the 1,600 seat plenary hall.
Hard Rock Hotel is a business oriented section that houses conference and meeting spaces along with an indoor exhibition area. Hard Rock also contains one of Asia’s largest ballrooms with seating for 7,300 people.
In the west zone, you’ll find the Equarius Hotel and Beach Villas.
Equarius Hotel is close to the Adventure Cove Waterpark, while Beach Villas features 22 villas floating on top of a lagoon.
Location
As the name implies, this resort is located on Sentosa Island, a popular vacation area at Singapore’s southern most tip.
_20191031162715.jpg "Stories")
More than 20 million people visit Singapore on an annual basis to enjoy the different resorts, golf courses, and other attractions. You can easily take multiple week long vacations to Sentosa and never get bored with everything that Resorts World and other island attractions offer.
The lone drawback is that Sentosa is even further away from Changi Airport than Marina Bay Sands.
It should only take you 10 minutes longer to cover the extra distance from Marina Bay to Resorts World Sentosa. But this is still an inconvenience when going to and from the airport.
Restaurants
If you like fine dining, then you’ll want to stay in one of the central zone hotels, where the top restaurants are.
Notable restaurants in the central zone include: Forest by Sam Leong Chinese cuisine, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon by Joël Robuchon contemporary French cuisine, Osia by Scott Webster Australian cuisine, Restaurant de Joël Robuchon by Joël Robuchon French, and Tunglok heen by Susur Lee Chinese.
Special Attractions
One area where Resorts World really trumps Marina Bay Sands is in the attractions department. In fact, this casino resort is largely based around its non gambling offerings.
Marine Life Park is a 20 acre facility that houses S.E.A. Aquarium and the Adventure Cove Waterpark.
S.E.A. is one of the world’s largest aquariums by water volume, containing 45,000,000 liters along with 49 different fish habitats. Adventure Cove offers seven waterslides, the Riptide Rocket hydro magnetic rollercoaster, Bluwater Bay wave pool, and Adventure River lazy river ride.
The Maritime Experiential Museum offers over 400 artifacts along with a 360 degree Multi sensory Typhoon Theatre. This museum also features over 10 interactive experiences for visitors in addition to the chance to board real Asian harbor ships.
While these aquatic experiences are impressive, the biggest special attraction at Resorts World Sentosa is Universal Studios Singapore. In fact, this theme park is a big reason why Genting won one of the two casino resort licenses being offered in 2006.
Universal Studios is divided up into seven different themes, including Ancient Egypt, Far Far Away, Hollywood, Madagascar, New York, Sci Fi City, and The Lost World. Each of these themes offers building and attractions that fit the zone’s name.
Other key elements to Universal Studios Singapore include: Lake Hollywood Theatre pyrotechnics / musical show, Pantages Hollywood Theatre Broadway style theatre, Mel’s Diner based on 1973 film American Graffiti, Minion Mart Despicable Me memorabilia, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride, Superstar Candies store, The Dark Room sells cinema accessories, Universal Studios Store, and the Waterworld Arena.
Non Gambling Singapore Attractions
Geylang
Geylang has become a popular area of Singapore due to its authenticity and its racy prostitution industry.
But there’s far more than this to Geylang since it offers unique architecture, excellent local food, and a taste of Singapore culture. The cuisine mostly consists of regional dishes from Indian and Chinese vendors.
Haji Lane
A small lane found in the Muslim section, Haji Lane offers a number of truly unique clothing and décor stores.
Here are some examples: Pluck offers clothes inspired by ice cream shops and the film Austin Powers; Know It Nothing features industrial style dresses and shirts; and Salad sells a number of Asian inspired home decorations.
Ritz Carlton Artwork
If you’re gambling in Singapore, chances are that you’re already staying at the Marina Bay Sands or Resorts World Sentosa. But that’s certainly no reason to avoid stopping by the Ritz Carlton to check out its incredible artwork.
Located just across the bridge from Marina Bay Sands, the Ritz Carlton features giant crystal glass sculptures found on both wings of the complex, a 3 ton piece hanging above the main entrance, and a number of other famous pieces from artists like Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Rainer Gross.
Even if you’re not an art aficionado, you might still enjoy seeing the Ritz’s artwork when considering that it’s completely free.
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Open from 5am to midnight, the Botanic Gardens is one of the few green areas left in Singapore’s bustling city. Whether you’re looking for a jog or peaceful walk, these gardens allow you to escape the busy casinos and city streets.
Here, you’ll find a rainforest, and a National Orchid Garden with over 1,000 orchid species and 2,000 plus hybrid flowers.
Singapore Flyer
While it may not be as famous as the London Eye, the Singapore Flyer is one of the world’s biggest observation Ferris wheels.
$30 will get you a half hour ride, which allows you to see much of the city skyline. It’s especially a nice view at nighttime, when you can check out the many lit up skyscrapers throughout Singapore.
Casino Stories Singapore Contact
The White Rabbit
This jungle based venue has some history behind it, having served as the British Army’s Dempsey Hill barracks in the 1950s. Today, this former barracks and garrison church is known as the White Rabbit, a bar / restaurant offering European cuisine.
One of the most interesting dishes here is macaroni and cheese lying inside Black Forrest cake, with truffle sauce drizzled on top.
Whether you come for the delicious dishes or historic atmosphere, the White Rabbit is a great spot for romance.
Zouk Nightclub
While Singapore may be known as a strict place to foreigners, the nightlife scene is quite vibrant and compares well to other major cities like Barcelona, New York, and Paris.
Zouk is at the center of Singapore’s nightclub scene, offering world class DJs, wild strobe lights, and a young crowd.
Crazy Casino Stories
If Zouk isn’t crazy enough for you, there’s also the Ministry of Sound, which is even larger and draws a big crowd every weekend.
7 Tips for Planning Your Singapore Casino Trip
1. Singapore Is Expensive, Look for Ways to Save
In comparison to neighboring Asian travel destinations like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, Singapore is 2 to 3 times more expensive. Given this, it’s easy to blow your budget and gambling bankroll before you even play a hand of blackjack.
One of the first ways that you can save is by getting your casino resort’s cheapest room option. Even the lower tier rooms at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa are enough to satisfy most visitors.
Even better is if you book a room at one of the city’s mid range hotels, which can be as cheap as S$100 per night. This may force you to take a taxi to one of the casinos, but it’s still cheaper than paying S$200 300 a night.
Rather than dining at the celebrity chef restaurants near casinos, eat the local cuisine. Many city based restaurants offer meals for as cheap as S$10 15, while street vendors sell meals for S$5 10.
2. Bring Snacks and Supplies
Continuing on the point above, waiting until you get into Singapore to buy snacks and basic supplies is a costly mistake.
We suggest fitting travel friendly food and other supplies into your luggage before departing. Doing so will potentially save you hundreds of dollars during the trip.
3. Visit Early in the Week
With 5.4 million people packed into 719 kilometers, Singapore has a population density of 7,698 per sq. km. This gives Singapore the largest population density in the world—outranking second place Hong Kong by over 1,000 people per s q. km.
Long story short, Singapore is an extremely busy place. And the earlier in the week you can visit, the better.
This is especially the case if you plan on visiting any of the local attractions that we discussed above, which are way too crowded on weekends. Plan to arrive in Singapore on Sunday or Monday if you want to beat the rush during your trip.
4. Visit Any Time, Except September and October
Considering that Singapore isn’t a tropical destination and its seasons are all relatively the same temperature, there’s no bad time to visit from a weather or seasonal perspective.
But one point when you want to avoid traveling to Singapore is late September to early October.
The reason why is because the Singapore Grand Prix runs from mid September through the first week of October, and the city is absolutely packed.
If you’re still going to brave this traffic, book your hotel room well in advance so that you aren’t left overpaying for one of the few remaining rooms.
5. Have a Strict Bankroll so You can Enjoy Singapore
Bankroll management is always important, but it’s especially crucial when you’re vacationing in an action packed place like Singapore.
The last thing that you want to do is blow your money on the slots and tables within the first day or two, then sit around the hotel room because you’re penniless.
Divide your bankroll into units before the trip, set aside a certain amount for each day, and keep the rest of your money / cards in your room safe into after a session. Of course, if you don’t have a problem with bankroll management, then keeping your remaining roll in the room safe is unnecessary.
6. Budget for S$200 to 250 Per Day
On the reverse side, you also need to make sure that your travel and eating budget are in order before leaving for Singapore. A good rule of thumb is to have at least S$200 250 per day for reasonable meals, light amenities, and 2 3 attractions for the trip.
This doesn’t include your gambling bankroll or plane tickets. If you were to get airfare for S$500 and gamble S$100 per day, this would bring a 4 day trip total to S$1,700 US$1,200 to S$1,900 US$1,350.
Of course, everybody’s trip itinerary and budget will be different. But this gives you a reasonable idea of what to budget for regarding the entire trip.
7. Plan to Stay for 3 4 Nights
This is another aspect that’s entirely up to the individual, but we suggest staying in Singapore for 3 4 nights on your first casino trip.
This gives you enough time to gamble, check out the resort offerings, and see a couple of mainland attractions.
This doesn’t include flight time, which, if you’re flying from the US 20 hours or UK 13 hours is a long time. If you’re inexperienced with long flights like this, you’ll need an extra day or so to recover before enjoying your drip.
Conclusion
As discussed in the tips above, Singapore can be an expensive place. But it’s well worth the cost when considering that two of the world’s most elite casino resorts are featured here.
Marina Bay Sands offers a one of a kind SkyPark that lets you swim, party, or eat while looking out over Singapore.
Resorts World Sentosa is packed with special attractions and unique zones that will keep you entertained for days, if not weeks.
Of course, both properties also have excellent casinos that offer more than enough slots and table games.
That said, Singapore is a great place to do your gambling, and you’ll find plenty of more love with the resort and overall city attractions.
(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- When Chinese businessman Wang Xi first gambled at Sheldon Adelson’s Marina Bay Sands casino in Singapore, he hit the jackpot, winning $3.7 million. After more wins in later trips, his luck turned sour and he racked up millions in losses. After one particularly tough day in the high-roller room, he threw a water glass at a staff member, and brought his father in to review his accounts, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
Popular Searches
The family probe yielded a windfall of a different sort. In a 2019 lawsuit, Wang claimed the Marina Bay Sands had transferred S$9.1 million ($6.9 million) of his money to third parties in 22 separate transactions without his authorization. The forms for wiring his money weren’t signed by him and appear to have been forged, the originals destroyed, according to the lawsuit. The casino settled the case in June and repaid Wang, without admitting wrongdoing.
Wang’s suit and similar ones shined a light on the murky world of third-party transfers that casinos and gamblers use to settle accounts. Since gambling is illegal on the mainland, so-called junket operators have stepped in to facilitate it, especially in Macau, a favorite for Chinese gamblers. It isn’t easy for Chinese citizens to wire money abroad, so in addition to booking five-star hotels and private jets, junket operators often act as an informal bank, providing gamblers with credit, stashing winnings, and settling losses with casinos and other bettors.
In Singapore, Marina Bay Sands prohibits the use of these junkets, concerned that the untraceable flow of money opens the door to money laundering. Instead, the casino allows patrons to transfer money to other gamblers they know, covering losses or sharing winnings. Think of it as an informal lending club among millionaires. For the casino, the so-called Letters of Authorization seemed like a way to avoid the junkets while still facilitating gambling by the “whales” who generate so much profit for its business.
Third-party transfers, which are legal, have been used by the casino for years, according to people familiar with the operations. An internal investigation showed 3,419 transfers worth S$1.64 billion were shuffled among gamblers by casino employees from October 2010 through December 2018.
A problem for Marina Bay is that several employees appear to have highjacked the process from about 2013 to 2018. They would get the patrons to sign a blank authorization form to get things started, then fill in the amount of the transfer and other details for subsequent wires. At times they’d use photocopies of the same document on multiple occasions to expedite the moves, copy signatures if needed, and destroy the originals after the funds were sent, the people say.
Marina Bay management was largely unaware of the transfer problem until 2018, according to a former compliance executive who was interviewed as part of an internal investigation. When the executive brought up the issue and tried to tackle it, the operations and legal teams urged him to back off. Later, his contract was not renewed, the official told the law firm conducting the investigation.
Marina Bay Sands says it’s cut back on third-party transfers and tightened security over their usage. Documents seen by Bloomberg show the amount of transfers dropped to just six in 2018 from a peak of 1,011 in 2014.
In a June letter to Singapore’s casino regulator, Marina Bay Sands said it took steps in 2018 to increase its scrutiny of all transfers, and further beefed up the measures this year. These steps included ensuring that all transfer letters had fresh “wet ink” signatures and that staff received a verbal confirmation from the patron before moving any funds.
Third-party transfers “are subject to enhanced due diligence checks which will include screening of the patron and third-party for junket affiliation and declaration of the relationship between the patrons and the reasons for the patron making the third-party payment,” the casino wrote. “MBS remains focused on having highest-level best practices of governance, compliance and internal controls that are continuously improved.”
Unauthorized transfers weren’t the casino’s only problem before they were dealt with starting in 2018. While Marina Bay Sands’ policy is not to deal with junkets, some rogue employees were working with these operators to attract Chinese gamblers, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. There have been cases in which Chinese clients said they settled their gambling accounts through the junkets, which didn’t pass along the money to the casino, resulting in uncollected debts and subsequent legal action.
For example, in 2018, Marina Bay Sands sued a customer named Luo Shandong, seeking repayment of S$3.5 million in gambling debts and interest, according to court documents. Luo says he paid the money through Tian Du Gaming Promotion Co., a junket company that operated in the casino’s VIP lounge. He says Tian Du provided him with credit and collected repayments on behalf of Marina Bay Sands. The casino denied the connection.
Casino Stories Singapore Casino
A Sands collections executive says it was common for patrons to inform the casino that they had paid a third party. The executive would then be obliged to inform them that they’d paid the wrong party, according to the internal investigation.
The whales are the big moneymakers for casinos, and some employees say they needed to work with junkets to attract them. One former marketing executive says that when Sands Singapore opened, they needed to call in the junkets because of a lack of local contacts.
While it’s not clear how much money the unauthorized transfers and unpaid debts cost Marina Bay Sands, from 2013 through March 2020 the casino wrote off $717 million from 928 accounts, according to an internal document seen by Bloomberg. A former Sands executive says typical losses for a casino that size are $20 million to $30 million a year. The peak write-offs were in 2015 to 2017, the years immediately following the biggest transfers, while 67% of the dollar value was tied to Chinese clients, the document shows.
The casino denies the transfers contributed to the writedowns.
“Third-party transfers are part of the ordinary course of business within our industry. We remain confident that the processes we have in place relating to such transfers are secure, with appropriate levels of authorization and controls,” the casino said in a statement to Bloomberg.
“By the same token, because patrons sometimes finance their play at our property by borrowing funds which they then fail to repay, write-downs are not uncommon in our business,” the casino added. “Any suggestion that write-downs are commonly the result of third-party transfers, or that write-downs at our property exceed industry norms, is inaccurate.”
Marina Bay Sands remains under scrutiny. The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing whether the casino breached money laundering controls in its treatment of high rollers and retaliated against whistleblowers who are current or former employees, according to a January subpoena issued to a former chief compliance officer at the casino.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas declined to comment about the Justice Department probe.
“Marina Bay Sands is committed to running a best-in-class compliance program and has dedicated significant resources to developing the robust program currently in place,” the casino said in the statement to Bloomberg. “As part of that program, we evaluate our internal policies on a regular basis and make changes where our compliance and business goals are not being achieved or our business values are not being met.”
Singapore’s police force is also probing the transfers in the wake of the Wang case, and the casino has hired another law firm—Davinder Singh Chambers LLC—to conduct an investigation into the employee wires.
The Casino Regulatory Authority has completed its investigations, and there are no ongoing reviews, a spokesman for the agency of says.
Singapore had early reservations about casinos. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was worried that gambling would bring “undesirable activities”—money laundering and organized crime, namely—to his island off the tip of Malaysia. Billionaire Adelson, the 23rd-richest person in the U.S., accentuated the positive after Singapore ended its casino ban: thousands of jobs, billions of dollars in tourism revenue, and a chance for Singapore to shed its reputation as one of the sleepier places in Asia.
A decade later, it appears both sides may have been right. Marina Bay Sands is a runaway success. Covid-19 notwithstanding, it’s one of the most profitable casinos in the world based on margins, accounting for a third of earnings at Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Asian bettors have flocked to the 600 game tables and 1,500 slot machines spread over four cavernous, smoke-filled floors, with gold-trimmed fixtures that are a cut above the more pedestrian halls of Macau. While patrons in the upper-floor Ruby salons enjoy unlimited food and drink, the real money flows through the 36 private Paiza rooms that attract high rollers with gambling budgets as high as $50 million, according to the people familiar with the operations.
These big spenders, most of them from China, wager at least S$10,000 a hand and receive red-carpet treatment, escorted in Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans to a discreet entrance. In these gilded rooms they can bet as much as S$1.5 million at baccarat, the preferred card game in Asia that relies more on luck than on skill.
There’s so much money flowing through the halls that one of the gamblers stores $17 million worth of wine in the cellars at the casino’s Imperial Palace restaurant, a person familiar says. Away from the gaming tables, the Moshe Safdie-designed complex of three curved hotel towers linked by a boat-shaped canopy with an infinity pool has become the city’s tourism icon, featured in the Hollywood hit Crazy Rich Asians.
And while Singaporeans are welcome to shop in the complex’s mall, explore the ArtScience Museum on-site, and sip whiskies at the rooftop Ce La Vi bar, they’re discouraged from actually gambling. They must pay a S$150 fee just to enter the casino, euphemistically known as an “integrated resort,” to accentuate the family fun. Visitors are hard-pressed to find a “casino” sign anywhere.
Adelson is showing no signs of pulling back. In fact, he’s doubling down in Asia while exploring a sale of his Las Vegas properties, people familiar say. He’s already committed to a $3.3 billion expansion of Marina Bay Sands, which will include a fourth hotel tower, a 15,000-seat arena, and a convention center.
“History has shown us that these businesses are to an extent too big to fail,” says Ben Lee, the Macau-based managing partner at IGamiX. Las Vegas Sands “already had a couple of run-ins with the DOJ, which resulted in minor fines, a slap on the wrist, and then business as usual.” —With Tom Schoenberg and Daniela Wei
For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.