Las Vegas Style Integrated Resort Casinos in Asia and Singapore
Singapore's morning tabloid Today reported on 13 September 2007
that American billionaire and gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson desires to
build variations of Las Vegas style strips and casinos around the world,
including Asia.
He was quoted as saying, "What I would like to do now is to
build different mini-Las Vegas in different parts of the world." He said this
after receiving a lifetime achievement award for enterprise at the Forbes
Global CEO conference. The Las Vegas Sands chairmen added that. "There are
other parts of the world where we can convert gambling dens into cities of
entertainment. I have been quoted as saying Asia
can handle up to 10 Las Vegases. Maybe I am a little off, maybe it is eight or
even twelve."
Mr Sheldon Adelson said that gaming is increasingly accepted as
a form of entertainment, partly due to the success of the Las
Vegas gaming model of
integrating casinos with other offerings to maximize profit. He went on to say
that, "What I did in the hotel and casino business is to fill the void of
providing entertainment. Gaming has evolved from gambling dens into
Disneylands for adults."
Singapore Integrated Resorts Casinos
He then picked out the tiny Southeast
Asian nation of Singapore as an example of what he meant. Singapore's
Marina
Bay is the location
where Las Vegas Sands is now building a casino integrated resort which will
open for business by 2009 to a tune of US $4 billion or roughly $6.1 billion Singapore
dollars.
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Another integrated resort casino license was awarded by the Singapore
government to Genting International which also own a casino on the Genting
Highlands in West Malaysia.
This second integrated casino resort in the island
of Sentosa
is expected to be ready for business by the year 2010.
Although modern Singapore's
founder, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has publicly said on numerous occasions
that he dislikes gambling, he recognizes that
Singapore's image and
economy will benefit from having these integrated resorts.
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The Marina Bay Sands integrated resort will have 2,500 hotel
rooms, spanking modern shopping malls, up market fine dining restaurants and
cutting edge convention halls including an eight thousand capacity ballroom
among many other attractions for locals and tourists alike.
Mr Adelson said that pragmatic Singapore
has certainly recognized the basket of amenities that makes up an integrated
resort. Last month, he opened what he claimed to be the largest casino floor
in the world which is in Asia’s
largest building, the Venetian Macao Hotel Resort.
So will Las
Vegas style casinos and
integrated pop up all over Asia?
It certainly is the case for tiny Singapore with big visions.