The government of Singapore has reportedly increased the daily entry fee locals must pay in order to gamble at one of the city-state’s two giant casinos by some 50% to slightly in excess of $110 while raising the cost for an associated annual pass to almost $2,203.

Capable campaign:

According to a report from the Bloomberg news service, the move from the government of Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, was instituted late last month and builds on a system that was first introduced in 2010 as part of a campaign to stop locals from impulsively gambling.

Effective deterrent:

Singapore is home to the giant Resorts World Sentosa integrated casino resort from Genting Malaysia Berhad as well as Las Vegas Sands Corporation’s iconic, Marina Bay Sands venue. The island city-state’s Manpower Minister, Josephine Teo, detailed that the system of entrance duties, which do not apply to foreign tourists, has raised approximately $954 million over the course of the past nine years and helped to reduce the number of local gamblers by about 50%.

Teo reportedly told Bloomberg…

“The daily and annual entry levies serve to deter casual and impulse gambling by locals and are part of a holistic suite of social safeguards. Between 2010 and 2018, the number of local visitors to the casinos declined by 50%.”

License extensions:

Singapore recently revealed that it had extended the local casino licenses of Genting Malaysia Berhad and Las Vegas Sands Corporation after the pair agreed to spend around $6.6 billion to add additional tourist attractions to their properties. This will involve Marina Bay Sands constructing a fourth hotel tower alongside a new entertainments arena while Resorts World Sentosa is to build a pair of themed zones and enlarge its aquarium.

Casino boosts:

The recently-inked licensing deals also include provisions that will allow Marina Bay Sands to expand the size of its gambling area by some 21,527 sq ft and add up to 1,000 gaming machines to its existing complement of 2,500 units. For its part, Resorts World Sentosa has purportedly been granted permission to enlarge its gaming floor by a further 5,381 sq ft in order to accommodate as many as 800 additional machines.