Singapore’s Vibrant New Casino Scene

When you think about the top casino scenes in the world, places such as Las Vegas, Macau, Atlantic City, and Monte Carlo come to mind. Singapore, on the other hand, is not a place that comes to mind when talking about the world’s best gambling hotspots. However, this all changed in 2010 when Singapore burst onto the casino scene with two of the most remarkable casino resorts in the world. 

Two companies willing to invest billions in the Singapore casino scene have revamped this tiny Southeast Asian country into one of the best places for gamblers to visit. Here’s a look at how the Singapore transformation happened.

Several years ago, the Genting Group saw untapped potential in Singapore as more than just a popular tourist destination.  They instead saw an area where huge casino resorts could thrive, and people would come from across the globe to frequent them. The Genting Group was so confident in this vision that they were willing to put $5 billion into it.

Just after the beginning of 2010, this vision came to life when the Resorts World Sentosa was completed. Resorts World Sentosa is a mammoth, 1,840 room complex that not only houses a first-class casino, but a Universal Studios theme park and shopping mall as well. 

And if you think having a theme park and shopping mall in the same complex as a casino is impressive, Resorts World also houses multiple restaurants and night clubs. Basically, Resorts World was built with the intention of satisfying the interests of everyone. However, Resorts World Sentosa knew they wouldn’t be the only game in town for long since another huge casino project had been in the works since 2006.

Much like the Genting Group, Las Vegas Sands had been eying the Singapore casino market as well. And they were hoping to make their casino project even bigger and more extravagant than Resorts World. $6 billion and 4 years later, the Marina Bay Sands casino was a reality.  

Las Vegas Sands had made their dream a reality after constructing a 2,500 room hotel in Marina Bay that spans across three gigantic towers.  And much like Resorts World Sentosa, Marina Bay includes a huge shopping mall, lots of restaurants, and even night clubs. The only thing missing from Marina Bay Sands is the theme park that Resorts World has. But this is certainly no problem when you look at Marina Bay’s crowning achievement…their 3-acre SkyPark.

As the name implies, the SkyPark overlooks the massive Marina Bay Sands and offers visitors plenty of entertainment high above the Singapore skyline. Some of the features of SkyPark include gardens, swimming pools, more restaurants, and night clubs. But the best attribute for SkyPark will obviously be the fact that it offers an amazing array of entertainment from the sky. 

With everything that both Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sensota have to offer visitors, it’s clear that Singapore is already one of the world’s premier casino destinations. However, not everyone in Singapore has received the two casinos with open arms.

Seeing as how Singapore has went for decades without any kind of gambling presence, it was to be expected that some big, fancy company wouldn’t just waltz right in and starting building a giant casino. In fact, both Las Vegas Sands and the Genting Group had to go through some trials and tribulations before the Singapore government would agree to let them start constructing casinos in the island’s backyard. 

Singapore wasn’t ready to let the two companies build the casino as-is. Instead, the complexes had to be more than just casinos, which is why shopping malls, restaurants, swimming pools, night clubs, convention centers and theme parks were a necessity rather than accessories. Both casinos even had to go as far as charging residents a $70 entry fee for a government-run program centering on the evils of gambling addition.

Even still, plenty of people seem to be excited about both Resorts World and Marina Bay.  So as long as the two companies can get through the red tape, they should be fine in regards to business. And if both casinos are successful, you can expect a lot more companies to start looking at Singapore as a possible place to open up shop.