Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2010 38 R eports from Singapore suggest the uptake by Singaporeans of yearly entry permits for Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has been low. One reason is said to be that the locals are fairly underwhelmed by the standard of service and management at the Genting-run property. RWS declined to comment on the claims from industry sources. But if the reports are correct, then it could mean Genting has effectively squandered the first mover advantage it had when it opened on 14th February, nine weeks ahead of its rival, Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Marina Bay Sands. How many Singaporeans could realistically have been expected to commit the S$2,000 necessary to purchase a year’s entry to RWS without first seeing what MBS has to offer when it opens on 23rd April is a moot point. It seems they are preferring to hedge their bets and paying the S$100 per 24-hour entry fee for RWS instead. The assumption in linking uptake of the annual entry fee with first mover advantage is that most of the Singapore casinos’ customers will be locals. Is that a fair assumption to make? One of our sources thinks so, for reasons outlined below. Even if Genting’s analysis of the importance of the locals in the market is the same as that particular expert, the operator was to a considerable extent hamstrung by Singapore’s tough rules on casinomarketing. It could not aggressively promote annual entry to RWS’s casino, nor support marketing with equally aggressive cross promotions and special deals. In that sense, the resort itself had to be the ‘promotional material’. And equally in that sense, the ‘campaign’ has been something of a disaster, suggests an industry insider. “The uptake of the S$2,000 dollar entry fee has not been significant at all,” says an industry source with contacts among the management teams of both resorts. Busted flush “That was RWS’s great opportunity. They had two to three months with the market to themselves. Now because they have been so disappointing and have upset so many people, I think they’ve lost that first mover advantage. “There are complaints about the way people are treated, there are complaints about the staff being inadequate in number and being poorly trained or even untrained. “You might think that somehow I’m anti- RWS. That’s not the case at all. I want both properties to do well. “But MBS, if they’re smart, will have watched this very carefully. If MBS deliver, they have an immediate opportunity,” suggests the insider. “Of the US$2.8 billion gross estimated for the Singapore casino market in 2011 by Faulty Towers? Resorts World Sentosa taken to task over customer service Resorts World Sentosa