Marina Bay Sands (mbs) in Singapore's New Gaming Industry

In August 2006, Las Vegas Sands Corp.'s wholly-owned subsidiary, Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd entered into a development agreement with the Singapore Tourist Board to build and operate an integrated resort called the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) in Singapore. The Marina Bay Sands, is the world's second-costliest casino, after MGM Mirage's City Centre in Las Vegas at the cost of USD$5.5 billion and it has three 55-story hotel towers, a casino, an enclosed retail mall, dining and entertainment complex, a convention centre and meeting room complex, theatres and a landmark iconic structure at the bay-front promenade that will contain an art and science museum.

Gaming in Asia Pacific

Gaming is a multi-billion dollar industry world-wide; one where emerging Asian player has began to challenge the dominance of Las Vegas, and it can be seen in the expansion plans for Sands China Ltd's two new sites in Macau, the Genting Berhad, a Malaysian-based conglomerate, who continue to invest worldwide in gaming operations; and the recent opening of Singapore's two casinos has raised the stakes in Asia's lucrative gaming market. These types of casino-cum-integrated resorts have attracted governments support across the Asia Pacific region looking to increasing tourist spending as a thieving growth sectors.

Many Industry Experts believe that the latest opening of the two Integrated Resorts (IRs), will increase the number of visitors to 17 million a year in the next 5 years, and this will translate to their annual spending to be S$21.3 billion. In comparison to the tourism dollars in 2008, where the numbers of visitors were 10.1 million and the spending was that of S$10.5 billion.

FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND

• TASTE / PREFERENCE & CUSTOMER EXPECTATION

High Demand among Asian Nations - Asians like Gambling

A recent study conducted by the Ministry of Communication Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) indicated that 58% of the adult Singaporeans gambled over the past 12 months . On average, a Singaporean spends roughly US$940 a year on gambling, compared to US$320 for the average American . Another good indication would be Singapore Pools, the government-linked lottery and betting operator has a yearly turnover of $4 billion (an approximately $11 million per day!).

However, a generic gaming industry that offers only casino gaming may not be as competitive as they used to be in the ever changing business environment. Casino operators realize the growing demand for integrated resorts where leisure, family entertainment and casino gaming are offered under the same roof. Hence, young