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Radio
Singapore International, 8 Apr 04
The Consequences of Building a Casino in
Singapore
Yvonne Gomez in interviews with
Jonathan Galaviz, President of the Singapore Association of Nevada,
based in Las Vegas; Gary Clifford, CEO of the Gambling Problem Hotline,
based in Auckland, New Zealand; and Ravi Veloo, a Singaporean social
commentator for his views
Hello, I’m Yvonne Gomez. The Singapore government has discussed the
possibility of having a casino here, although the issue has been brought
up before in the past. At that time, the government thought that the
social ills that would result from a casino far outweighed the benefits.
However, the idea of a casino seems more attractive now, as Singapore
explores new and innovative ways to make the island more attractive
as a tourist destination. If a casino is indeed built here, the government
as warned that measures are likely to be put in place to restrict
or limit access to it. One of these could be entry by membership.
The social issues that could arise from having a casino here are being
hotly debated. Various fora have discussed the possibility of organized
crime, a rise in vice activities, and others have welcomed the move
as a potentially great boost to the economy.
For a reaction from someone who has lived for a long time in a place
with synonymous with casinos, I spoke to Jonathan Galaviz, President
of the Singapore Association of Nevada, based in Las Vegas.He first
told me about what an entrenched gaming culture has done for Las Vegas.
JG: Without a doubt, the gaming industry in the State of Nevada, and
Las Vegas in particular, has provided a great economic base that the
state would not have otherwise, and also a tax base for the state
itself, that’s been quite prosperous to the coffers of the state government.
It’s also provided substantial economic opportunities for many of
the residents that live in the state of Nevada.
YG: Now you’ve just outlined the advantages of the gaming industry.
What about some of the social ills that have arisen from the whole
gaming culture?
JG: Of course, with the gaming culture, you can have social ills,
just like you would with the legalization of tobacco, alcohol, or
any other type of legal vice, that could be experienced in human culture.
With gaming in particular, there are side effects and negative implications.
These are towards 1%-2% of the population that gambles, whether it’s
an addiction or a propensity to gamble away their life savings or
family’s college fund or whatever it may be. So the social ills or
the social problems that result from gaming do exist. There are programmes…for
example, the State of Nevada has a problem gambler type of programme
where they can interact and resolves problems with those who have
a gambling addiction
YG: The social problems brought about, or made worse by gambling is
not something that can be ignored in any discussion involving the
set-up of a gaming establishment like a casino. In New Zealand, there
are a number of large casinos in the big cities, and one of the problems
there is the number of people on the dole who flock to the casinos
in droves to gamble away their welfare cheques. But that’s not the
only problem. Suicides over gambling debts also occur with alarming
frequency.
For more, I spoke to Gary Clifford, CEO of the Gambling Problem Hotline,
based in Auckland, New Zealand. Gary told me why and how the hotline
started.
GC: It was set-up to be a first stage for people seeking help for
their gambling problems, or about someone else’s problem, like a husband
or wife, to get some advice and counseling, and then if necessary,
a referral to a therapist who can give more in-depth help. We’re also
a major information provider about how to spot the trends in problem
gambling.
YG: Can you give me an example of a problem that someone would have
with gambling?
GC: There are many. In fact, at the most extreme end, we’ll be dealing
with someone who’s got into such a desperate state that they’re about
to kill themselves. We have counselors trained who can persuade them
not to, but people have been known to kill themselves because of their
gambling. So you get people who are suicidal, or who are losing their
homes and families, their job, maybe even going to prison, through
to the much less advanced stage where maybe they’ve just noticed that
they’re spending more money than they can really afford or they’ve
been sitting in front of the machines for 12 hours and they don’t
know where the time’s gone.
YG: Would I be right in saying that the gaming culture is quite entrenched
in New Zealand?
GC: Yes, it is entrenched. In varying degrees, it would be true to
say that 80%-90% of adults would’ve gambled during the course of a
year, but it might be something as simple as buying a lottery ticket.
YG: As a whole, how do you think the presence of casinos in New Zealand
has contributed to gambling problems?
GC: It’s had a noticeable effect. About 15% of the people who come
forward with problems have it with casinos. There are problems around
gaming machines, except for Asian people, who are often hooked on
the table games in casinos. Europeans get hooked on machines, and
Asian people seem to have a much bigger focus on gaming tables, although
it’s beginning to grow.
YG: It’s quite clear that casinos are not going to go away in New
Zealand. As the CEO of the Gambling Problem Helpline, how would you
like to see a more healthy casino culture. Is it possible?
GC: Yes, a certain number of things can create a healthier culture.
One is to give the players more information about what it is they’re
playing and what the odds are about winning or losing. Also, to make
the environment more open, because most casinos tend to be quite dark
and you can’t see outside so you’ve no idea how long you’ve been playing.
And the third thing would be for the casino operators to become more
pro-active in looking after people and making sure they’re not spending
too much time and money.
YG: Do you think that restrictions play a big role. For example, in
Singapore, they’re talking about entrance by membership only. Do you
think something like that would work.
GC: It does appear to work in some countries overseas, simply because
once you’ve spotted someone, you can insist on IDs as people go in
which can prevent certain people coming in. but a lot of people manage
to bypass these systems, either by changing cards or swopping identities.
So it would depend on how it was done. A photo-ID or passport can
help to prevent this from happening.
YG: And coming back to the issue in Singapore…are we ready for a world-class
casino to be built on Sentosa island, as proposed by the authorities?
The potential is enormous, and several spin-off businesses can also
result. But how will some Singaporeans cope with being turned away
from the casino? Once a casino exists, will regular small-time gamblers
of the 4-D, Singapore Sweep ticket, Toto and those who bet on sports
be content with just that? Will having a casino simply open a Pandora’s
box?
I spoke to Ravi Veloo, a Singaporean social commentator for his views.
RV: The plans to set up a casino in Singapore has been drifting through
all kinds of muddy waters and actually, the decision could be much,
much clearer. The issue has never really been one over whether gambling
is good or bad. Gambling is very common in Singapore, whether it’s
the Toto, the Singapore Pools, the 4-D or even football betting. The
real issue has always been control over the casinos. The Singapore
government was never really confident that if they introduced a casino
into Singapore, it would fall into the wrong hands, and that money
would be siphoned out. I think they are far more confidet now, because
the world has really turned. I mean, it wasn’t really so long ago
that when we had gangs and triads in Singapore. Those were real issues,
you see. And that’s why the older leaders who went through those time,
had their doubts about having a casino in Singapore.
YG: What do you think about this plan to have entrance by membership.
How do you think that’s going to go down with the general Singaporean
public?
RV: Well, we’ll have casino apartheid, right? Why would you want to
have something like that in Singapore. Here we are in the Year 2004
and while security issues have restricted people’s freedoms, by and
large, most countries are aspiring towards greater freedom. Why would
you want to discriminate among your own people? There are many, many
other more sophisticated ways of dealing with this issue. If you were
to step into a casino in Europe, you will know you’re not welcome.
You wouldn’t want to be there. You would look around and say, hey
look at all these people, all dressed up because there’s a dress code.
I don’t want to be here. So you step right out and go to some other
place and have a beer.
YG: What do you think are the main advantages and disadvantages of
having a casino in Singapore, knowing where we’ve come from and where
we plan to go?
RV: If Singapore wants to be an international city, I think that looking
at other major cities, like London, Sydney etc, this is just another
appendage to your tourism sector. I think that there will be some
contribution to Singapore’s status as a tourism hub, but placing the
casino in the southern islands, far away from the reach of the ordinary
Singaporean is also rather silly. Because in that sense, it’s not
much different from taking a boat and going out into international
waters, which is what some people are doing already. So you might
as well have it, like somebody proposed, right next to the Arts Centre,
right in the middle of Singapore, and then deal with the entrance
in more sophisticated ways. The contribution to the economy is not
questioned. Other places have shown the contribution in terms of revenue,
and you can tax them must higher. The negatives? It’s always been
associated with organized crime, as well as prostitution. I think
a more honest and open approach to this issue, would resolve most
of these issues. |
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