Sands' Singapore casino to avoid junket operators fees

Disclosure rules probably will deter all but a few Singaporean junket operators from seeking a license, Chief Operating Officer, Michael Leven, told a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Gaming Conference in Las Vegas on Jan. 28. Marina Bay Sands, which will boast about 600 gaming tables and 1,500 slots, is betting on drawing patrons from the city-state as well as Indonesia and Malaysia.

We are building our organization on the anticipation that we do no junket business, Leven said. The gaming intentions of the people who live within an hour-and-a-half's flight of Singapore are very significant.

Singapore has said it hopes to lure 17 million visitors and triple annual tourism revenue to S$30 billion (US$21.4 billion) by 2015 with the opening of Marina Bay Sands and Genting Singapore Plc unit's Resorts World Sentosa.

Singapore's National Council on Problem Gambling wants residents to limit losses by declaring how much they are prepared to lose before they step up to a gaming table, the Straits Times reported today. Once patrons reach that loss limit, they may need to stop gaming or see a counselor if they wish to continue.

'Exercise Discretion'

We encourage those who want to set spending limits on their casino gambling to make use of the pre-commitment system by informing the casino staff before they start playing, council Chairman, Lim Hock San, was quoted by the Weekend Today newspaper as saying. This will help empower them to exercise discretion for their own gambling habits.

Only casino customers who pay a US$100,000 deposit before they play will be allowed to gamble on credit, the report said. Singaporeans and the island's permanent residents will be required to pay US$100 to enter either casino.

A government survey conducted from December 2004 to February 2005 found that 58 percent of Singapore's adult residents had taken part in some form of gambling during the previous year, with 2.1 percent reporting symptoms suggesting probable pathological gambling.

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