Inside Asian Gaming

February 2015 inside asian gaming 33 Cover Story Institute of Policy Studies. Early on, casino shuttle buses were banned, even from the airport. Exclusion rules have been broadened. Employers have been instructed to encourage their low-wage foreign workers to sign self-exclusion orders; foreigners account for 92% of 190,927 self-exclusions, according to Singapore’s National Council on Problem Gambling. Since 2013, those among the nation’s 136,000 civil servants who visit casinos more than four times monthly or buy an annual entry pass must disclose that they’ve done so. Last month, a cabinet minister announced a feasibility study of blanket exclusions for selected religious and labor groups. HEAVY LEVY When Steve Wynn abandoned his Singapore bid, he accused authorities of trying to “micromanage” the development process. The biggest concern for the remaining bidders, however, was the entry levy for Singapore citizens and permanent residents, set at S$100 ($75) for 24-hour access or S$2,000 per year. “All the applicants had real trouble with that,” says Michael Gore, a former Genting executive who worked on the company’s 4,000-page Singapore license application. “That was radical.” Mr Gore believes the casino levy, plus the requirement to present a passport or Singapore identity card upon entering (and leaving), decreases potential visitation by 30%. Total revenue collected from the casino entry levy, as reported by the Singapore Totalisator Board, was S$224 million in the financial year ended 31st March, 2011, covering the initial year of IR operations, and has declined annually since then to reach S$151 million in FY 2014, a drop of 32.5%. Still, Singapore citizens and permanent residents are estimated to account for half of play, though the government is believed to want the percentage to be much lower. “Generally speaking, for casinos, the great majority of play, 75-80%, is local,” Mr Gore says. “If Singapore manages to avert that,” the entry levy is working. Mr Gore praises the CRA for liberal interpretation of the 15,000-square-meter limit on gaming space, counting only gaming positions and areas immediately around them, but not aisles or back- of-house areas. That’s enabled MBS to operate about 600 gaming tables plus 2,365 machines and RWS 565 tables and 2,451 machines, instead of about 300 tables each. JUNKET-FREE ZONE The CRA requires junket promoters, which it calls “international marketing agents,” to apply for licensing, as do other jurisdictions. Singapore’s fastidious gaming regulation includes an entry levy on Singapore citizens, a virtual ban on junket promoters and stringent casino marketing restrictions, backed by fines— which have amounted to S$3.46 million ($2.6 million) since 2010—that are now stipulated to go as high as 10% of annual gross gaming revenue for serious violations.