Gossiping About Sentosa RW IR Casino

- S$100 per entry for Singaporeans or S$2,000 annual fee. Still 5 were caught trying to slip through and were charged. The fee of $100 is per entry per 24 hours. That means if you entered the casino at 0001 min past midnite, it will expire 2359 the same date. To remain inside the casino, another $100 is required for the next 24 hours. If you overstay 1 min, you can be fined $1000.

- Donnie Yen was spotted to be trying his luck in the first couple of days.

- The casino's net gains per day for the first few days was S$3.5m. I will be that 4 out of 5 patrons walk out losing money.

- Yes, somebody forgot about the foreign workers loophole, hence many were dressed very casually and can be found sleeping around on the floors - kinda puts a damper after spending S$6bn on that thing. Guess they will have to plug that loophole or we will see Sundays at Kota Raya Kompleks being replicated at the casino.

- Apparently a substantial number of the visitors came from China.

- It is uncomfortable and hot to watch the shows in Universal Studio. Surely you shouldn't have shows being performed outside - like no one knew that we are all on the bloody equator matey. The heat is likely to deter visitors. They already had failures in Haw Par Villa, Tang Dynasty City and other theme parks - did not not learn from past experience?

- Some people spotted a car at the Genting carpark with the back open. A maid and 2 kids sitting behind eating. Where were their parents? Your guess is as good as mind. This cannot be encouraged, its quite sad.

- Yes, some people got in wearing slippers.

- Some already rate the Universal Studios theme park as a lot better than HK Disneyland, but it doesn't take a lot to do that, really.

- The casino says that 70% of staffers at the casino are Singaporeans or Singapore PR holders, although most who went there would like to disagree.

- An Indonesian man who lost all the S$1,000 he had with him at the Sentosa casino was jailed for four weeks after pleading guilty to stealing a handphone from an undergraduate at Changi Airport.



- At least three quarters of the casino is operational. But seriously, the 15,000-square-metre casino will not be able to cater to 20,000 people at any one time even when fully opened. We have to be admit that the crowds in the opening weeks may not be fair to the casino as it will result in too many people, too many players and not enough tables.

- 8 lions for the lion dance, 11.18am for the official opening, 12.18pm for the casino doors to be opened to the public.

- Lim Kok Thay was Mr Cool as he played the first game in the house – a game of baccarat – which he lost to much laughter and ribbing from all present.

- The theme park is spread on 24 hectares of land and features a total of 24 rides and attractions. The prime among these are the Battlestar Galactica Ride which is a multi-track coaster, and a replica of the famous Revenge of the Mummy Attraction. The mummy ride is presently only available at Universal Studios Hollywood and Orlando. One major highlight will be the Shrek 4D attraction, an awesome experience in which viewers are taken into the world of Shrek virtually and physically. Another highly anticipated ride in sci-fi city is the Transformers ride. The park is divided into total seven sectors which include Sci-Fi City, New York City, Egypt, The Lost World and The Hollywood. 6 hotels are also there which have a combined room count of 1800 rooms.

- Not spotted during the first few days in Sentosa, the analysts who put up BUY calls on Genting Singapore.

Brilliant photos can be found at this link, OMG, the Universal Studios facade looked exactly like the beautiful Disneyland of old. Having said that, back in the casino there seems to be spots of "poor design and aesthetics" in some of the architecture, design and taste. There were spots of brilliance such as the Botero (I think it was, or maybe a look-alike) and chandeliers. Overall Universal Studios theme park looked a lot better.

http://sparklette.net/travel/singapore/resorts-world-sentosa/

Marina Bay Sands - Update

The Marina Bay Sands is Singapore’s first casino, being developed by one of the world’s biggest gambling companies, Las Vegas Sands, at Marina South in central Singapore. Completion of the Integrated Resort is expected for 2010. The casino and one of the hotel towers was expected to open in December 2009. However, on July 8, 2009, it was announced that the initial phase of the Marina Bay Sands will open early 2010.

Las Vegas Sands has committed to invest S$3.85 billion in the project, not including the fixed S$1.2 billion cost of the 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) site itself, which by most estimates will make it the most expensive casino in the world. The total cost of the development is placed at S$8.0 billion. In addition to the casino, other key components of the plan are three hotel towers with 2,600 rooms and suites, a 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) arts and sciences museum and a convention centre with 1,200,000 square feet (111,000 m2) of space, capable of accommodating over 52,000 people. The resort, inspired by card decks, was designed by Moshe Safdie. The company has promised to create 10,400 jobs for the project, 75 percent of them reserved for Singaporeans.

Marina Bay Sands will feature three 55 storey hotel towers which were topped out in July 2009. The three towers will be connected with a 1 hectare sky terrace on the roof. In front of the three towers will be a Theatre Block, a Convention and Exhibition Facilities Block, as well as the Casino Block, which will have up to 1,000 gaming tables and 1,400 slot machines. The Art-Science Museum will be constructed next to the three blocks and will have the shape of a lotus. Its roof will be retractable, providing a waterfall through the roof of collected rainwater when closed in the day and treating audiences to laser shows when opened at night. The Art-Science Museum will be ready by early-2010.

Marina Bay Sands has leased about 75 per cent of its retail space, or 225 units of the 300 stores at the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes. The integrated resort provides over 800,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Sands said about half of the total retail space will be ready by the first phase of its opening in early 2010. And 80 per cent of the stores that are due to open has already been leased. Among them is luxury French fashion house Chanel. The label is boosting its presence in Southeast Asia with a new concept fashion boutique that will occupy 7,600 square feet over two floors of the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes.

However, from my sources, it looks like Resorts World Sentosa could be sstealing the thunder from Sands by having a soft opening in 4Q 2009 as well. As things are shaping up over the last few weeks, it looks like Resorts World Sentosa is looking to be a more viable proposition... we will see....

p/s photo: Vivian Hsu