Singapore plans to tweak casino rules

Yoolim Lee

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

Singapore will modify some rules for the city-state's first casino-resorts after consulting bidders including Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Las Vegas Sands Corp.

In June the city-state delayed to the third quarter from the second releasing its request for proposals, which would spell out guidelines for its casino-resorts for the dozen bidders, which include Kerzner International Ltd. and Genting Bhd.

"Various prospective investors have come back to us with some very good feedback, so we're looking at that," Singapore's Trade Minister Lim Hng Kiang told reporters today. "That's why we are looking at amendments, adjustments, modifications."

Singapore is counting on the resorts to help boost visitors after its share of Asia-Pacific's tourism revenue dropped by half in the past decade. The two casino resorts would draw S$5 billion ($3 billion) of investments and create about 35,000 jobs on the resort island of Sentosa and in the city's downtown Marina Bayfront, the government said. By comparison, last year Singapore added 71,400 jobs.

Last month Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Las Vegas as part of a U.S. trip, where he met operators of casino-resorts in that city.

Potential investors say they're anxious to see what changes the government has made. City Developments Ltd., Singapore's second-biggest developer, said Thursday it wants to know if the government would retain its rule that the shareholding structure of the resort can't be changed by more than 5 percent.

The developer also said it would like to tie up with more than one bidder to improve its chances of winning. City Developments, which said it has met with casino operators, hasn't lined up a partner yet.

"Once the rules are set, I would know which one would give me a better deal," Chairman Kwek Leng Beng said at a briefing last night. "But you also run the danger the partner you want to choose would not be a successful partner. So preferably, if you can, partner with three, four or five of them, or the whole lot. One of them will get it!"