Singapore's second casino resort opens in Marina Bay

Singapore's second casino resort opens in Marina Bay

Foreign  2010-04-27 

SINGAPORE, April 27 (Bernama) -– Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the US$5.5 billion Singapore's second integrated casino resort opened today to the public, with its owner, the US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp, saying it expected to recoup the investment within five years.

Las Vegas Sands Corp chairman and chief executive officer, Sheldon G Adelson, said MBS is expected to generate about US$1 billion a year from its various facilities at the resort including hotels, convention centres, and entertainment and shopping outlets, apart from the casino.

The resort located by the Marina Bay and facing the city-state's financial district was jointly opened by Adelson and the resort senior officials at exactly 3.18 p.m, a Feng Shui approved time.

Speaking at a media conference earlier, Adelson said MBS hoped to attract about 70,000 to 80,000 visitors a day to its casino and other facilities when fully operational.

The resort received its licence to operate the casino from the Casino Regulatory Authority of Singapore only yesterday.

MBS is the world's second most expensive casino after MGM Mirage's City Centre in Las Vegas.

The resort to be opened in phases today opened about 960 out of 2,560 hotel rooms, a portion of its shopping mall, some restaurants, the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, the 10,000-seat event plaza and the casino.

The rest of the hotel rooms and suites, the Sands SkyPark--which sits 60-storey off the ground and is perched atop the resort's three hotel towers, and additional shops would be available after the grand opening on June 23.

On its rival, the Malaysian Genting's casino resort Resort World on Sentosa (RWS) island which opened ahead of MBS last month, Adelson said the two resorts should be working together as they catered to a different market segment.

He said he did not believe that "the success of RWS depends on the failure of MBS, and the success of MBS depends on the failure of RWS," adding that the two would either go up or down together in the nature of gaming industry.

Adelson also said MBS primary markets, particularly for its casino were countries around the Asian region especially Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China.