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Goldman Sachs thinks unwashed construction workers capping RWS casino takings (Temasek Hedge)
Goldman Sachs thinks unwashed construction workers capping RWS casino takings
March 26, 2010<!-- by uncletrader --> ¡¤ Leave a Comment
An interesting take from the latest Goldman Sachs report on RWS, the gist of which is that: the unwashed masses of foreign workers and marginal gamblers will displace high-rollers at the gambling tables.
Here are the relevant highlights from ¡°Goldman Sachs Conviction Sell: Genting Singapore plc ¨C 24 March 2010¡å
To deter Singapore residents from entering the casino, Singapore citizens and permanent residents are subjected to a S$100 casino levy, which will allow 24 hours play in one casino; alternatively, for multiple visits, Singapore residents can take up S$2,000 annual membership for each casino. In addition to being for social reasons, we feel it can also function as an effective means to keep out marginal gamblers, which considering Singapore¡¯s limited gaming space, may be commercially constructive.
A bigger negative, however, has been the large 1.3mn population of foreigners living in Singapore, majority of which earn less than S$1,800/month, and are not subject to any casino levy. While we are not simplistically equating low income to low gambling appetite, we are concerned that 1) lower income foreigners, who may have lower gambling budget, may lower casino yields, and 2) crowding of lower income foreigners could be a potential ¡®put-off¡¯ to more affluent, higher limit gamblers.
i.e. High-rollers don¡¯t like sitting next to sweaty Bangla or Chinese construction workers. I¡¯d like to be the fly on the wall for the next Genting AGM.
It¡¯s simply excellent how Goldman has managed to dress up xenophobia AND racism as ¡°shareholder value maximization¡±. Amazing what you can get out of a Harvard MBA.
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Some casino staff told to leave (ST 23 Jan)
Jan 23, 2010
Some casino staff told to leave
Applications to work at gaming tables rejected by the authorities
<!-- by line -->
By Jessica Lim & Lim Wei Chean
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->IT WILL be months before the first cards are dealt at Singapore’s two casinos, but several employees have already been fired because of stringent rules that dictate who can work there.
Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has fired more than 30 casino employees, while Marina Bay Sands (MBS) has also told an unknown number of workers to go.
The Straits Times understands that the workers’ applications to work at the gaming tables were rejected by the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA).
No reasons were given, but it is likely that the affected workers had brushes with the law in the past.
There is one key difference between the actions taken by the two sides, however. The affected MBS’ workers have not started work, although they were given employment contracts.
But RWS’ employees had completed their three-month training stints: Some croupiers it hired were even sent overseas for training.
The workers were told on Thursday that they had to go, a day after RWS opened four of its six hotels.
Initially, RWS wanted them to repay $8,000 in training costs, but it later waived this requirement.
MBS, meanwhile, broke the news to its employees last month.
It sent e-mail messages to those affected, saying that their employment contracts were voided because they had failed CRA background checks.
Unlike RWS, which began training its casino staff last October, MBS started instructions for a few hundred dealer inspectors, and cage and surveillance staff, only recently. The dealers are not slated to begin their training until after Chinese New Year next month.
When asked if affected workers would be offered other positions in the integrated resort (IR), MBS declined to comment.
RWS, however, said that it would be ‘happy to assess them for other areas’.
But Mrs Seah-Khoo Ee Boon, its senior vice-president for Human Resources and Training, said: ‘It’s not a given. They have to go through the selection pro-cess.’
Asked why it began training staff before they had been cleared to work in the casino, she said: ‘The training takes up to three months… and we have an opening timeline.’
She added that the IR had conducted background checks on its casino employees. She said all applicants were asked repeatedly during their interviews if they had past criminal records.
‘With this group of employees, my guess is that they didn’t tell us everything about their background,’ said Mrs Seah-Khoo. ‘We went though all the records they provided us with and did our due diligence.’
When contacted, some of the workers fired by RWS admitted that they have had scrapes with the law. Some said they had kept old offences from the IR, but others insisted they had come clean.
A 26-year-old croupier-hopeful, who wanted to be known only as Derrick, said he did not declare a shoplifting offence he committed when he was 14.
‘I didn’t really know it was considered an offence,’ said Derrick, who quit his job as a real estate agent to join the IR in October. ‘It was so long ago and I wasn’t charged.’ He will be appealing to the CRA for another chance.
Another affected employee, who would give his name only as Daniel, said he told RWS ‘everything’, including being caught for selling fake DVDs when he was 14. He said the resort told him to take his chances anyway. ‘This is not fair at all. I was upfront and now I am jobless,’ said the 26-year-old, who used to be an events organiser.
Responding to questions from The Straits Times about CRA’s criteria, its spokesman Vivian Heng said: ‘The criteria for approving special employee licences are consistent with those of jurisdictions such as the United States and Australia.
‘They are essentially stringent criteria, given that a casino is an environment where very large amounts of cash are involved. Thus, those with criminal records that involve dishonesty, lack of integrity or a blatant disregard for the law would not be suitable for this specific industry.’
It is possible that more employees could be fired in future as CRA still has employment applications before it.
Yesterday, Mrs Seah-Khoo brushed off the impact of the sackings on future casino operations. ‘This is actually a small number compared to those whose licences have been approved.’
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Gilbert: If you or your friends are affected by the dismissal, do contact me at
[email protected]. We will like to hear from you and if possible publish your story online. All stories sent will be treated with strictest confidence.<!-- story content : end -->
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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - BreakingInsideNews:RWS workers not paid!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>11:40 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 7) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32865.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Just heard this from a source in NTUC. Apparently there is a small hooha going on in Resort World Sentosa. Some of the workers are not being paid their salaries or yet to receive their pays... matter being brought up to NTUC...
