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<table class="contentpaneopen"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="70%" align="left">Written by Ben Bland </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="createdate" valign="top"> Monday, 29 March 2010 </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top">
Super-casinos open in the island republic
Anxious to boost revenues in a time of economic uncertainty, the Singapore government legalized gambling. It sold lucrative gaming licenses and levied a tax on winnings. But the advent of state-sanctioned gambling brought a rise in social problems such as addiction and crime and within three years, the government closed the gaming houses.
That was in 1823, four years after Sir Stamford Raffles first unfurled the British flag on the island of Singapore. Some 187 years later, Singapore is hoping that its latest experiment with legalized gambling turns out rather better.
The first of Singapore's two super-casinos, the US$4.5 billion Resorts World Sentosa, flung open its doors on the auspicious first day of the lunar New Year, February 14. The US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands will follow on April 27.
Setting aside its deep-seated puritanical instincts, the ruling People's Action Party has made a big double bet. Firstly, that the casinos will attract enough punters to allow the operators, Malaysia's Genting and America's Las Vegas Sands, to recoup their massive investments and boost the wider Singapore economy. And secondly, that the casinos can thrive without leading to an increase in prostitution, addiction and organized crime, the sort of problems that tend to proliferate around gaming houses in Asia.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2368&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=233
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Anxious to boost revenues in a time of economic uncertainty, the Singapore government legalized gambling. It sold lucrative gaming licenses and levied a tax on winnings. But the advent of state-sanctioned gambling brought a rise in social problems such as addiction and crime and within three years, the government closed the gaming houses.
That was in 1823, four years after Sir Stamford Raffles first unfurled the British flag on the island of Singapore. Some 187 years later, Singapore is hoping that its latest experiment with legalized gambling turns out rather better.
The first of Singapore's two super-casinos, the US$4.5 billion Resorts World Sentosa, flung open its doors on the auspicious first day of the lunar New Year, February 14. The US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands will follow on April 27.
Setting aside its deep-seated puritanical instincts, the ruling People's Action Party has made a big double bet. Firstly, that the casinos will attract enough punters to allow the operators, Malaysia's Genting and America's Las Vegas Sands, to recoup their massive investments and boost the wider Singapore economy. And secondly, that the casinos can thrive without leading to an increase in prostitution, addiction and organized crime, the sort of problems that tend to proliferate around gaming houses in Asia.
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2368&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=233
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