S'pore moves one step closer to casino project
S'pore moves one step closer to casino project
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Singapore will soon ask potential investors to submit proposals for a Las Vegas-style casino resort despite strong opposition from religious and civic critics, press reports said on Wednesday.
Senior Minister for Trade and Industry Vivian Balakrishnan admitted to local media on Tuesday that building a casino was a "polarizing" issue in Singapore, an affluent city-state where gambling addicts are already on the rise.
But in the most explicit remarks by a senior official on the controversial project, Balakrishnan sought to underplay the role of gambling in the resort and stressed that the key issue was whether society was ready for a casino.
"What we would consider would be a large-scale iconic, integrated entertainment resort which would be a tourist icon, which would put us on the tourist road map," the Straits Times quoted him as saying.
Singapore is already served by state-controlled lottery, sports betting and horse racing operations, but critics say a major casino would be a stronger temptation to punters and could ruin families.
Balakrishnan, who led a government delegation to study casino operations in Las Vegas earlier this year, said the casino would play a "very, very small" part in the proposed integrated resort.
He said the government could still walk away from the idea if the project did not meet economic or social objectives.
"If we decide that the proposals are not of sufficient economic benefit, we will not proceed," he said.
"If we decide that the social safeguards or the social consequences are disproportionate and are basically beyond the capacity of our society to tolerate, then we will not proceed," he added.
Local broadcaster Channel News Asia reported on Monday that the number of gambling addicts seeking treatment in Singapore had jumped eightfold in the past two years.
Eight new patients turn up every month at the Institute of Mental Health to get help for their gambling addiction, compared to just one case for the same period in 2002, it said, citing the institute's figures.
The problem is serious enough for counselors and experts to suggest the establishment of a center to treat gambling addiction.
This could educate Singaporeans about the potential of becoming hooked on gambling and devise programs to help those most at risk, it said.
The casino proposal has sparked a rare public outcry in tightly-governed Singapore. Even members of the ruling party have voiced opposition to the project.
Singaporean casino players currently have to travel to Malaysia, the Philippines, Macau or Cambodia, or go as far as Las Vegas and Melbourne, to satisfy their itch.
Some take trips on cruise ships that offer gambling on board once they leave Singapore waters.