Singapore ahead in the losing game?

Letter from Leong Sze Hian

I refer to the article “IRs here have not created more gambling addicts: CRA” (July 30). On the call for greater transparency regarding the number of Singaporeans entering the casinos, it states that Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) chief executive Lau Peet Meng had agreed that the legality of the information — and how it is shared — could be looked into more carefully.

I find it strange that the Casino Control Act can be crafted such that statistics on how many Singaporeans are entering the two casinos may not be revealed. I have read the Act and am unable to find such a prohibition. Can the CRA point out the specific section(s)?

Then how was the former Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister able to disclose last September in Parliament that more than a million Singapore residents had visited the casinos since they opened?

While CRA chairman Richard Magnus said last week that it was an “urban legend that quite a number of our (residents) frequent the casinos” and had cited an Institute of Mental Health study that gambling addiction numbers remain the same, surely giving the statistics on Singaporean visitors would be the best way to end speculation that more are gambling.

And it is not just how many are gambling another aspect of the issue is how much they are losing and the social consequences.

United Kingdom-based gaming consultancy H2 Gambling Capital ranked Singapore No 2 in the world last year for gambling losses, at €822 (S$1,409) per adult resident. If we add the S$100 daily casino entrance levy (and the annual S$2,000 levy), might we be No 1, ahead of Australia’s €902?

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Macau defies expectations

HONG KONG

Cash-rich mainland gamblers, who contribute the bulk of earnings in the enclave an hour from Hong Kong by ferry, have helped the former Portuguese colony maintain stellar gaming revenue since the start of the year. A maze of glitzy facades and kitsch interiors, Macau is the only place where Chinese citizens are allowed to legally gamble in casinos.

Revenue last month was 24.2 billion patacas (S$3.6 billion), the second highest gain this year and just shy of May’s record 24.3 billion patacas that was attributed to a week-long public holiday and the opening of a new casino resort.

Macau, a major market for United States casino operators including MGM China, Sands China and Wynn Macau, is likely to post full-year revenue more than five times higher than that of rival Las Vegas.

Macau chalked up US$23.5 billion (S$28.2 billion) in gambling revenue last year and is forecast to grow that by between 25 and 50 per cent annually.

That was well ahead of Las Vegas’ US$5.8 billion and Singapore’s US$5.1 billion.

Singapore is set to overtake Las Vegas this year to become No 2 with a rojected US$6.4 billion in turnover, according to the American Gaming Association.

Casino shares skyrocketed yesterday in Hong Kong, with Galaxy Entertainment up 8.42 per cent, Sands China up 5.76 per cent, Wynn Macau up 3.31 per cent, MGM China up 2.99 per cent, SJM up 4.99 per cent and Melco International up 7.37 per cent.

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands and casino mogul Steve Wynn’s Wynn Resorts posted strong second-quarter profits, bolstered by stellar growth in their Macau casinos.

MGM China, Galaxy Entertainment, SJM and Melco Crown International are due to post secondquarter earnings later this month.— Macau, the world’s largest casino market, blew past expectations to post a 48-per-cent rise in July gambling revenue, underscoring unflagging demand from China’s newly minted millionaires and burgeoning middle class.

AGENCIES

World’s largest casino market posts 48.4% rise in gambling revenue