Inside Asian Gaming

47 uch has been written, broadcast, and communicated about Singapore’s legal- ization of casino gaming in the context of large-scale integrated resort development. It has,in many ways,been the major news story of the global casino gaming industry in 2005 and 2006 – excluding the continual amazing stories out of Macau.One could even say that the strategy, approach, and competition in Singapore have the classic makings of a Har- vard Business School case study. Singapore’s approach to casino gaming legalization is now acting as a catalyst for possible future gaming-industry legalization and liberalization in many other countries, particularly in Asia. The concept of integrat- ing a tourism driven strategy with large-scale Singapore’s Example for the Global Gaming Industry Research, strong regulation and free market competition were the key factors behind the successful legalization of casino gaming in the city-state, as Jonathan V. Galaviz explains investment associated with casino legaliza- tion was, in many ways, a forced initiative of the Singapore government, but capitalized upon the business models witnessed in free- market jurisdictions such as Las Vegas. InMay 2006,Singapore selected theMari- na Bay Sands proposal from Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) as the development of choice for the Marina Bay location – Sentosa Island is the other. It is important to understand the history, context, and approach of Singapore as it is likely this model and approach will be used by many other governments in Asia moving forward. Research Driven Government One of the most critical success factors play- ing into Singapore’s favor was a research driven approach by the Singapore govern- ment.Not only did the government study the casino gaming industry in Asia, but the re- search extended to places such as the UK, US, and Australia. The research was intended to achieve an understanding of two primary is- sues: the tourism driven strategic advantage from introducing casino gaming and the so- ciological impacts of problem gambling. The first component of the research consisted of looking at what makes a suc- cessful tourism destination. It was clear that the government would only make a move towards casino gaming legalization if it was done in the context of generating entertain- ment propositions that could attract large M