The Singapore government has set a price for a 20.6-hectare site in downtown Singapore. The tag for the projected first casino in the Island country is 1.2 billion Singapore Dollars or US$707 million. Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang said that the government intention is to avoid a bidding war between the prospective operators that would sap funds available for developing the projects.

Biddes that include MGM Mirage, Harrah's Entertainment Inc and Malaysia's Genting Bhd, amongst 12 groups competing for a license to run casinos in Singapore must submit their casino proposals by March 29, and a winner may be named by mid2006. The companies plan to tap a market that's within a six-hour flight of 2.5 billion people, and replicate the success of new casinos in Macau.

Financial analysts have cocurred that investment estimated to build both gaming entertainment resorts would be in the US$5 billion region, and more daringly they estimate that each property would generate about US$1 billion in gaming revenue in the first year. Mr. Lin commented that the casinos investment is "a very critical component of our tourism strategy. We want to double our tourist arrivals and triple tourism receipts."

At a press conference after the announcement of the Government's decision to set the casino land price, Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan said: "The architectural design is very important and is among the criteria that will be used in the selection. The design has to be an iconic design. We are looking for the wow factor." This view indicates that the Singapore Government is looking at a landmark such as the Sydney Opera House or The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as a way to inject some "buzz" into a city-state that is better known for its strict rules, law-abiding citizens, numerous public campaigns, and other forms of social engineering.

As Singapore seeks a place amongst the entertainment centres of South East Asia, there is already a project afoot to jazz up its rather staid image, with plans to open its own version of the Paris "Crazy Horse" show, featuring topless go-go dancers, next month. Casinos are expected to appeal to ethnic Chinese from Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as the increasing number of tourists from mainland China. In all this frenzy of billion dollar investments and projected revenues, two winners will emerge, and about ten losers, lest some accommodating takes place before the chips are really down. (E-11.07.05)

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