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The
Business Times , 26 Mar 04
Singapore casino proposal sets US gaming industry abuzz
By Christopher Reed in Los Angeles
Major players sizing up island's potential before showing their hand
THE gambling moguls of Las Vegas know the value of maintaining a poker
face, but there was no doubt yesterday about their keen interest in
Singapore's plans for a possible casino in a proposed new 500-hectare
resort at Sentosa Cove.
The development department of MGM Mirage is already examining the
potential, while Robert Stewart, a senior vice-president for corporate
communications at Caesars Entertainment, the world's biggest casino
corporation, told BT yesterday that it is a 'significant opportunity'.
Industry insider Paul Dworin, publisher of Global Gaming Business
magazine of Las Vegas, said: 'The news has been on all the gaming
industry wires and there's nobody who's not interested in it.'
But much will depend on the rules of the game. In this secretive and
close-knit industry in the Nevada desert, nobody is showing his cards
yet. 'You won't see any signs of people making moves until it's firm,
but I'm sure people have already visited Singapore, and if the top
people haven't, their representatives have,' said Mr Dworin, whose
online service will carry a detailed analysis of the news from Singapore
on Monday.
At MGM, which has four leading casinos in the Las Vegas Strip and
over 60 per cent of its upscale gambling, the senior vice-president
of public affairs, Alan Feldman, told BT: 'Our monitoring staff is
already reviewing the opportunities and whether it's worth throwing
our hat in the ring.'
But he stressed that the Singapore government's regulations would
be the final arbiter of what happens. In what at first seems a contradiction,
the Vegas-based industry wants strict rather than lax regulations,
and tight enforcement. The reason lies in a little-known provision
of Nevada's gambling laws: the Gaming Board's power to rule on anything
that any state-based casino company does anywhere in the world. If
it 'brings discredit to the state of Nevada', it risks losing its
gaming licence in Vegas itself.
The second criterion that will absorb the industry here is Singapore's
tax rate. Lower is better for them, and how much is levied will decide
how much a corporation and its backers will be prepared to invest.
Publisher Mr Dworin added: 'We're probably looking at a US$500-600
million project for the casino and its surrounds on the island, and
any of the main players - Steve Wynn (the former owner of Bellagio
who's building a new Wynn Las Vegas casino on the Strip), MGM's chairman
Terry Lanni, and Caesars - are all capable of spending their share
of that.'
However, all these people, as well as Sheldon Adelson of the Strip's
luxurious Venetian casino-hotel, are committed to or seeking investment
in Macau.
Does Singapore's reconsideration of its gambling ban come too late
to match the competition? No, says Mr Dworin. 'Some of these people
could still abandon whatever they've been doing in Macau, although
I doubt if any would. Remember, they'll be looking for financing at
the banks. So Singapore is still a viable option for them.'
At Caesars, Mr Stewart said his firm had bid unsuccessful in Macau
but was still interested in the former Portuguese colony, as well
as Thailand and Japan. He added: 'We think Singapore would represent
a significant opportunity. But it will depend on the details of the
regulations the government imposes.'
Mr Feldman at MGM, the leader in luxury casino gambling, added: 'Our
development staff are already reviewing the opportunities in Singapore
to decide whether it's worth throwing our hat in the ring. We are
testing the possibility of a visit to find out more. Chairman Lanni
is very interested and could go himself. 'But we need a better understanding
of the government's intentions towards tax rights, licence rights,
and regulations. It's not a question of snapping our fingers and just
going ahead.'
Las Vegas, now largely run by big corporations with no sign of the
shadowy gangsters of the past, emphasises that it is as concerned
as the Singapore government about the potential dangers of crime.
Macau, and its violence of the late 1990s, is much in mind. As one
Vegas casino insider put it: 'Macau may say it has cleaned up, but
we would regard it very much as a work in progress.' |
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