License to gamble up in the hills
In celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Genting Highlands Resort, Malaysia's Genting Bhd. Group, which runs the popular regional entertainment center, invited a group of journalists from neighboring countries, including Yogita Tahil Ramani of The Jakarta Post, for a weeklong trip in mid-August. Here are her reports.
GENTING HIGHLANDS, Malaysia (JP): How could a Muslim-dominated country ever condone a casino within its borders?
"That's simple. Unlike Indonesia, where 90 percent of the population are Muslims, over 40 percent of Malaysians are drawn from Chinese, Indian and other ethnic and religious backgrounds," disclosed Ng Kok Wai, media relations manager of the Genting Highlands Resort.
To meet the growing demand from locals, tourists and people from some neighboring countries for legalized gambling, the government in 1971 issued a casino permit to businessman Lim Goh Tong, who was in the process of developing the mountainous area of Genting, which previously was covered in thick forest.
"There is a huge demand for gambling worldwide ... so, we (finally) have it here.
"It would be cheaper in terms of travel and accommodation for Asians to gamble in Malaysia, than in Las Vegas, right?" Ng said.
Today, the name Genting, which is about a two-hour drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur, has become a familiar name to most people, particularly vacationers, in the region.
Although there are no official figures available, many believe that most tourists visiting Malaysia spend part of their time in the country in Genting, whether for the purpose of seeing the city of entertainment or simply trying out their luck.
None of the resort's executives were willing to reveal the amount collected from their mammoth 24-hour casinos, which have a standing capacity of 50,000 people in the Resort and Genting hotels.
Like many company officials, the resort's senior vice president for public relations Anthony K.S. Yeo, only said that the casino is one of the group's primary contributors.
"I can't divulge the figures about its (casino) contribution to net earnings ... but the casino is a major contributor to our net earnings, and to Malaysian government revenues," Anthony told The Jakarta Post.
A company profile disclosed that last year's combined annual turnover of the hotels, resorts, restaurants, casinos and the wide range of other places of entertainment in Genting, all of which come under the management of Resorts World Bhd. (RWB), one of the Genting Bhd. Group's major subsidiaries, reached some 2.2 billion Malaysian ringgit (US$594 million) of which the casino was a major contributor.
The Genting Highlands world of gambling is regularly populated by crowds attired in expensive suits and ballgowns.
Most of the gamblers seem very self-possessed and composed even though they may have just lost tens of thousands of ringgit.
Their self-possession, however, could merely be a facade to cover up rampant jealousy and smugness, bringing to mind the effect of roses in a gasoline-drenched room. The air in there is filled with such jealousy and smugness that cashiers will almost refuse to look at you if you dare to approach them with coins as opposed to wads of paper money.
"Our customers mostly come from Indonesia (nearly 20 percent), Thailand, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan," one casino employee said.
"Sometimes, after players lose a lot, they need cheering up. When my table is not full, I engage them in conversation, and they end up telling me whose money they're burning."
He added that it was a practice amongst employees not to get personal, to avoid the "religion topic" from coming up.
"We don't want to get into trouble with that one," the employee said smiling.
Wai told the visiting group of reporters that strict penalties were imposed if it was found out that an employee of any of the resort's five hotels -- the Highlands, the Resort, the Genting, the Awana, and the Theme Park hotels -- encouraged a Malay or a Muslim hotel guest into the casino.
"I wouldn't dare do it. My job would be on the line. I always say, if you want to play, it's up to you and if you don't want to play, it's up to you too," Wai said.
At the entrance to the casino, the security guard will sometimes ask visitors or hotel guests to show their passports or identity cards.
But the Post and Kompas reporters received no such treatment. The guard simply asked their nationalities and waved the two in.
After entering the gargantuan casino crowded with tightly packed slot machines and tables for roulette, bacarrat and craps, a bejeweled woman in her mid-40s was seen sitting with her back to a slot machine. She had dead eyes and the face of a beggar on Christmas Eve.
A man next to her explained: "She lost about 10,000 ringgit here. I was scared to ask more."