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<TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD class=contentheading width="100%">Editorial: Learning from a neighbor </TD><TD class=buttonheading width="100%" align=right>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD>Opinion </TD></TR><TR><TD class=createdate vAlign=top>Wednesday, 23 June 2010 21:28 </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><OBJECT id=ieooui classid=clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D></OBJECT><STYLE> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </STYLE><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.BMHEAD40, li.BMHEAD40, div.BMHEAD40 {mso-style-name:"BM_HEAD 40"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; line-height:40.0pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-hyphenate:none; tab-stops:8.85pt 17.7pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:40.0pt; font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; color:black; letter-spacing:-.8pt;} /* Page Definitions */ @page {mso-footnote-numbering-restart:each-section;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
THE Philippines, where the state gaming agency keeps touting an ambitious project to set up an “entertainment city” that officials insist won’t be anchored on gambling alone but also offer theme parks and other entertainment events and venues, could learn a thing or two from the experience of its Southeast Asian neighbor Singapore.
On Wednesday Marina Bay Sands, one of the two major casino projects that ended the prosperous city-state’s 45-year ban on gambling, hosted a glittery grand opening after unveiling, said a Bloomberg News report, a casino, convention facilities, a mall and about a third of over 2,500 hotel rooms on April 27. This $5.5-billion project is owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. Earlier in February, the first casino project, Genting Singapore Plc.’s $4.7-billion Resorts World casino on Sentosa Island, was opened to the public. It also features a Universal Studio theme park.
Now, our home-grown Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which pins so much hope on its own “city” by the sea in suburban Parañaque, may point to the Singaporean experience in hyping the projected revenues from its dream enclave. That may, indeed, happen—and add even more heft to the legendary largess that Pagcor has raked in the past two decades, both for laudable social-welfare and infrastructure causes, as well as for the whispered about “extra” transactions it is said to have financed given its sometimes opaque accounting. After all, in Singapore’s case, the initial economic bonanza from its experiment with gaming seems to have fulfilled expectations.
According to Bloomberg News, quoting independent gaming industry strategist Jonathan Galaviz, some 3 million to 4 million people have visited Singapore’s casinos so far, a third of an estimated 9 million for the whole year—to think the first opened only on Valentine’s. “The resorts may add about 0.8 percentage point to Singapore’s GDP this year when fully operational,” according to Song Seng-Wun, an economist at CIMB Research Pte. in Singapore, also interviewed by Bloomberg. That inflow is seen crucial to reducing the city-state’s “reliance on manufacturing that led to three recessions in a decade.”
The resorts don’t just bring in money—tax revenue of over $400 million in 2010—but also jobs (16,000 workers).
Surely, by economic accounts, the experiment with gaming to widen the basis for growth seems to have been well-calculated. Still, Manila could learn a thing or two from Singapore’s downside. According to the Bloomberg report, the casino opening is also “keeping the courts busy.” Think credit-card and other forms of fraud, pimping, loan sharking, and all the other ingredients of the seamy side of gambling. Singapore’s police and justice system have a reputation for efficiency, so the verdict on whether the tradeoff between more money and more crime/social disintegration can be managed well remains in its favor so far.
Imagine, however, translating all that into the Philippine context, where organized crime is, well, so “organized,” it’s always rumored to have its own “representatives” in strategic high places. It’s important to point this out now because Pagcor has gotten many reputable investors in its entertainment city. It should, this early, plan well to make sure the dream city truly delivers on its promise, and doesn’t turn into a nightmare.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=contentpaneopen><TBODY><TR><TD>Opinion </TD></TR><TR><TD class=createdate vAlign=top>Wednesday, 23 June 2010 21:28 </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><OBJECT id=ieooui classid=clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D></OBJECT><STYLE> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </STYLE><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} p.BMHEAD40, li.BMHEAD40, div.BMHEAD40 {mso-style-name:"BM_HEAD 40"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; line-height:40.0pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-hyphenate:none; tab-stops:8.85pt 17.7pt; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:40.0pt; font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Warnock Pro Display"; color:black; letter-spacing:-.8pt;} /* Page Definitions */ @page {mso-footnote-numbering-restart:each-section;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -->
On Wednesday Marina Bay Sands, one of the two major casino projects that ended the prosperous city-state’s 45-year ban on gambling, hosted a glittery grand opening after unveiling, said a Bloomberg News report, a casino, convention facilities, a mall and about a third of over 2,500 hotel rooms on April 27. This $5.5-billion project is owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. Earlier in February, the first casino project, Genting Singapore Plc.’s $4.7-billion Resorts World casino on Sentosa Island, was opened to the public. It also features a Universal Studio theme park.
Now, our home-grown Philippine Amusement Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which pins so much hope on its own “city” by the sea in suburban Parañaque, may point to the Singaporean experience in hyping the projected revenues from its dream enclave. That may, indeed, happen—and add even more heft to the legendary largess that Pagcor has raked in the past two decades, both for laudable social-welfare and infrastructure causes, as well as for the whispered about “extra” transactions it is said to have financed given its sometimes opaque accounting. After all, in Singapore’s case, the initial economic bonanza from its experiment with gaming seems to have fulfilled expectations.
According to Bloomberg News, quoting independent gaming industry strategist Jonathan Galaviz, some 3 million to 4 million people have visited Singapore’s casinos so far, a third of an estimated 9 million for the whole year—to think the first opened only on Valentine’s. “The resorts may add about 0.8 percentage point to Singapore’s GDP this year when fully operational,” according to Song Seng-Wun, an economist at CIMB Research Pte. in Singapore, also interviewed by Bloomberg. That inflow is seen crucial to reducing the city-state’s “reliance on manufacturing that led to three recessions in a decade.”
The resorts don’t just bring in money—tax revenue of over $400 million in 2010—but also jobs (16,000 workers).
Surely, by economic accounts, the experiment with gaming to widen the basis for growth seems to have been well-calculated. Still, Manila could learn a thing or two from Singapore’s downside. According to the Bloomberg report, the casino opening is also “keeping the courts busy.” Think credit-card and other forms of fraud, pimping, loan sharking, and all the other ingredients of the seamy side of gambling. Singapore’s police and justice system have a reputation for efficiency, so the verdict on whether the tradeoff between more money and more crime/social disintegration can be managed well remains in its favor so far.
Imagine, however, translating all that into the Philippine context, where organized crime is, well, so “organized,” it’s always rumored to have its own “representatives” in strategic high places. It’s important to point this out now because Pagcor has gotten many reputable investors in its entertainment city. It should, this early, plan well to make sure the dream city truly delivers on its promise, and doesn’t turn into a nightmare.
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