Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | August 2011 6 Market Outlook The Comeback Kids Singapore’s slot clubs are contenders once again A personal view by David Kinsman Photo courtesy United Artists “I t ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.” So says Rocky Balboa’s character in the 2006 update of Hollywood’s famous Rocky movie franchise telling the rags to riches story of a young American boxer. Singapore’s slot clubs have some things in common with Rocky. People keep counting them out, but they keep getting up off the commercial canvas and fighting back. The launch of casinos in Singapore in 2010 saw a considerable weakening in the gaming revenues of the city’s slot clubs. These establishments are known primarily for their slots, but in reality they were first conceived as community social clubs. The slot machines were only introduced as a way to help subsidise their running costs. The strong community roots of the clubs could in the long run be the key to their survival in the face of very tough competition from the slick entertainment and highly professional management offered by the new casino resorts. Singapore’s two casinos—Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands—have been around for 18 months. Like many a modern boxer, they’re not afraid to showboat and they get heavy promotion from themoney men. The clubs have been around for decades. They’re like old boxing pros. Their winnings may be modest, and they may be a little rough around the edges in terms of the products they can offer, but they know how to make the best of their talents even when the odds are stacked against them. And in the Singapore gaming market they are certainly facing stacked odds in the battle with the casinos. Each club has up to 40 gaming machines and is run by either a social group, a sport club or a government or industry organisation. The venues, stocked with gaming devices known locally as ‘fruit machines’—a term borrowed from the pub slot machines and the amusement with prizes devices found in the United Kingdom—are part of Singapore’s social infrastructure. They play an important part in providing community based facilities to Singaporeans. As well as there being a limit of 40 machines per venue, no single operator can