Lim Goh Tong , one of the world’s top 250 billionaires according to Forbes Magazine, celebrated his 90th birthday on Sunday at the casino resort in Malaysia that he founded. The occasion was marked at Genting Highlands with the unveiling of a granite statue of the founder, along with a prayer hall inaugurated in his name. Meanwhile Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry has confirmed that Genting International has been given the go-ahead for the construction of an integrated resort on Sentosa Island.

A ground-breaking ceremony has been conducted for the US$3.4 billion casino project to be called Resorts World Sentosa. The Singapore government is now satisfied that the participating partners and shareholders in the project clear its probity checks. This follows the withdrawal of Genting International from a partnership with Stanley Ho in Macau, something that had caused concern amongst the Singapore administration.

Even with increasing competition for tourists, particularly wealthy gamblers, from the Asian market, the two Singapore casino resorts should prove attractive for visitors. The Tourism Board expects to almost double present tourist numbers to over 17 million by 2015. The Singapore economy should also benefit from some of the estimated US$900 million spent overseas by local gamblers. For all the countries in Asia with gaming laws in place or pending, the quarry is the millions of potential Chinese gamblers from Mainland China and Indonesia. Following the success of Macau, it is not only Singapore that is travelling the casino route.

Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Taiwan and Thailand are all either considering new gaming legislation or expanding their existing casino licences. Possible additional competition from new casinos so far is not seen as a threat to Singapore’s nascent casino industry. Nor is it seen as likely that Sands Marina Bay and Resorts World Sentosa will seriously dent gambling mecca Macau’s gaming revenue. What is certain is that the gaming industry, in Asia as in much of the world, is seen as the way forward for many nations looking to strengthen their economies. Gambling is unlikely to go out of fashion any time soon. (E-04.16.07)

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