Singapore played the favorite in selecting
Malaysia's Genting International on Friday to
build its highly anticipated US$3.4 billion casino
resort at Sentosa Island. With its partners Star
Cruises and Universal Studios, Genting's Resorts
World came down firmly on tourism appeal, the key
factor in the selection process.
But with
Las Vegas-style glitz seemingly the next big thing
in Asia's gaming market - suddenly the industry's
global growth
center - it's worth asking
whether Singapore's safe bet was also a smart bet.
From the beginning, Genting was tipped the
favorite for the integrated resort site on
Sentosa, a putative tropical-paradise island
overlooking one of the world's busiest shipping
lanes. Singapore has long tried to find a winning
formula for this 500-hectare, shoe-shaped island
south of the city, and a world-class theme park
has long been viewed by government planners as the
missing piece.
The largest publicly traded
gaming company in Asia, Genting beat out rival
proposals from a pair of bidders. Kerzner
International, best known for the Atlantis resort
in the Bahamas, proposed a Frank Gehry futuristic
concept of 30th-century Atlantis and a partnership
with the Singapore government through CapitaLand.
(The two proposals affiliated with Singapore Inc
for Marina Bay also fell short.)
Eighth
Wonder, designer of the New York, New York casino
in Las Vegas, enlisted an array of partners but,
like Kerzner, lacked a proven theme-park brand
(see Last resort (with casino) in
Singapore, December 2).
Resorts
World at Sentosa will offer much more than
roller-coasters and a Waterworld-brand stunt show.
The 49-hectare site will include a Universal
Studios theme park with 16 of 22 attractions
exclusively designed for Singapore, including a
swim-with-the-sharks aquarium, a water park, a
museum, three public amphitheaters and six hotels
totaling 1,800 rooms, all linked by a so-called
FestiveWalk to form a "village-like festive
ambience", according to the Singapore Tourism
Board. That's not to mention a 15,000-square-meter
casino with about 300 tables and up to 2,500
gaming machines.
"Genting is bringing a
major theme-park attraction, which plainly is what
Singapore wanted for Sentosa just as a convention
center is what they wanted for the Marina South
integrated resort [awarded to Las Vegas Sands in
May]. They were certainly transparent about what
was required and Genting delivered Universal, end
of story," said Devin Kimble, managing director of
the local Brewerkz restaurant group. "The issue
was not who was going to run the tables, so to
speak, but who was going to provide the rides."
Alone among the three bidders, Genting
offered experience operating an integrated resort
in Asia, in the landmark Genting Highlands resort
in the hills outside Kuala Lumpur. Singaporean
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong once referred to
that complex as a "model" integrated resort.
Genting has further gaming interests on
four continents, and in October acquired Stanley
Leisure, Britain's largest casino operator.
Genting executive chairman Lim Kok Thay said at
the time of the acquisition that he saw synergies
between that deal and Sentosa. Subsidiary Star
Cruises offers a compelling tie-in with
Singapore's cruise-ship terminal undergoing a
facelift across the harbor from Sentosa.
High standards The S$5.2 billion
(US$3.4 billion) Resorts World at Sentosa will
represent the second-most-expensive casino resort
ever, trailing only Singapore's other
soon-to-be-built integrated resort, the US$3.68
billion Sands Marina Bay downtown. The Sentosa
project is expected to add about 0.8% to
Singapore's annual gross domestic product and
generate 30,000 jobs by 2015.
Still, many
Singaporean commentators referred to Genting as a
"third rate" or "three star" operator entrusted
with building a five-star property. Posters
occasionally made specific reference to the
company's Malaysian roots, often a source of
ethnic and historical controversy in neighboring
Singapore. Some took a nationalistic tone,
complaining about giving a state treasure - albeit
one that has arguably been masquerading as a white
elephant for decades - to a neighbor with which
Singapore shares rocky bilateral ties. Others
talked about Genting's "dirty toilets" and "boring
rides" at "that place on the hill".
"I'm
not sure that Genting will be able to deliver to
'Singapore standard'," restaurateur Kimble said.
"I think that is the big question mark."
But Judy Siguaw, dean of Cornell-Nanyang
Institute of Hospitality Management, said she
believes that "Genting's 20 years of experience
and its global success readily provided Singapore
with the confidence it needed. If the Malaysian
factor entered into the equation, I am sure that
Singapore would have considered the benefits of
creating strong neighborly bonds."
Furthermore, Siguaw said, "I believe that
the fact that Genting was an Asian-based
organization was a plus, given the last [bid] was
awarded to a US-based company." She added, "Now
Singapore will have one Western-based and one
Asian-based casino, fulfilling Singapore's desire
to have diversity in all things."
Sometimes things that seem simple really
are. "I think it was a difficult decision between
the iconic Kerzner bid featuring the Frank Gehry
design and Genting's Universal Studio concept,"
said Andy Nazarechuk, dean of the University of
Nevada-Las Vegas Singapore Campus. "Putting a
Universal Studio on Sentosa will add a new
dimension for Singapore's tourism industry."
With the expansion of gambling in the
region, that new dimension becomes critical.
Having a pair of casinos - when Macau has three
dozen, the Philippines, South Korea and even
Cambodia are already in the game and Japan and
Thailand are tempted to join - can't be counted on
to bring an additional 5 million visitors a year
to Singapore. But dealing the multibillion-dollar
contract to a joint Genting-Universal Studio
concept appears at first blush to be the best bet
for a winning hand.
Gary LaMoshi
has worked as a reporter, author and broadcast
producer in the US and Asia since the 1970s.
Longtime editor of investor rights advocate
eRaider.com, he's also a contributor to Slate and
Salon.com, and a counselor forWriting
Camp.
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