Funding halts ambitious real-world and online casino project
The Singapore government, known for its strict policy towards online casinos and gaming, has acknowledged it is in talks with an American casino operator for funding to complete a $4 billion casino area in the capital city.
The casino project in the Marina Bay area of the city was said to be faltering due to the uncertain economic climate. The talks between the casino operator and the government was described by the Singapore Tourism Board as a way to "facilitate the success" of the project.
The Singaporean government, known for its conservative and cautious approach to gaming and online casinos, has been quietly making inroads since 2004 in establishing the city as significant real-world and online casino area in Asia.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the time:
"If [real-world and online casinos] is one of the things [tourists] want to do, then maybe we should allow them to do that. I think we should think about it."
Taking into account the revenues from real-world and online casinos, the bricks-and-mortar and online casino industry in Asia is valued at around $14 billion a year. Real-world and online casinos in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia have proved to be lucrative for their respective governments and real-world and online casinos bring in significant revenue in tax.
Despite the government's apparent willingness to embrace online casinos and their real-world counterparts, there have been a number of setbacks to the project and a number of online casinos and real-world companies have expressed concern that the project will be delayed. The news of the setback comes despite massive investment from a number of real-world and online casino operators.
The Singapore Tourist Boards said they were aware of the concern from real-world and online casinos and that it was "monitoring the situation."