I am personally against the idea due to political, economical and social basis. First, the govt and the entertainment industrialists claims tat the new integrated resort can generate revenues for the republic, at the same time adding more 'punch' to the tourism scene. I'm skeptic abt tis.
1) It is already known tat many other Asean nations are also giving the green light to building a casino. These less economically advanced nations hope to use the casino to boost their tourism sector. Thus with so many other countries jumping on the "integrated resort" band wagon, would our nation's integrated resort outshine others? Would our idea be considered new and creative? :idea:
2) The building of the integrated resort with the casino might cause "canibalistic' effects on the conventional tourism. Singapore is very small compared to Las Vegas. No matter where u position the resort, it is going to cause a heavy effect on the surrounding existing tourism related industries. It is just like the 'bubble tea' phenomena. When someone brought in the idea from Taiwan, it is considered to be very profitable due to the great appeals to the younger masses, but when too many people open bubble tea shops, the market value per cup plunged rapid. From $3 to now merely $1 per cup. Some shopkeepers I once spoke to say tat they regretted foolishly following the crowd and now they cannot back out. Our govt is planning to comission some foreign companies to build and run the resort together with some ammenities within it. Thus with the resort so near to the city area, would the resort and other local conventional tourism industries end up playing opposing camps and start "consuming" each other's staple stream of tourists?
3) Considering Macau is very near PRC, how is the govt going to be confident tat they are going to get a fat share of the PRC gambling tourist? Considering going Macau is just as convenient as us going to Malaysia. Lets also not forget Macau has many various gambling center and considering our govt is going to setup various parameters to control the amount being gambled. Some claim tat the new resort can create new jobs, but has our govt set up an institution to ensure our locals get the jobs? :!: :?:
4)On social issues tis is my personal experience. The govt claims tat only 2% might get addicted, personally I think the number is bigger. In my NSF rifle company I served in, there is a quite handful of the guys tat regularly patronize the shops tat sell Toto, 4D,SCORE.These folks spend per month nearly a hundred dollars on these bets eventhough our allowances is ownly $500.Wat shock me most is, instead of scouting for jobs and preparing for life after ORD, many of them actually pin their hope on these fruitless gambling gimmicks and hope to make it big. Some even lament on the stories they read on Chinese tabloids, regarding blue collared workers striking rich easily based on some numbers they dreamt on. There is even this platoon mate of mine tat own others $4000 during EURO2004 period. Instead of finding ways to clear the debts, he borrowed more money to gamble and hope he can win to cover up the debts. This show tat our ppls are yet to be mature enough to deal with the lure of gambling. Setting up the resort would be like opening up a "Pandoras Box", bring in more and more social and ethics problems in Singapore. :?
:idea:
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." 
