“Get Yourself Banned from Casinos”

The picture above encompasses the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Integrated Resort complex handy with a MRT going right through it (think monorail at Disney World…). Below are two pictures of artists’ renditions. It should be opening early to mid 2010. http://www.marinabaysands.com/thevision.html

What’s the significance of another casino? Well, it’s Singapore’s first casino! The building of this has sparked national debate and even a book called Singapore Places Its Bets. Social scientist, Derek da Cunha, PhD, forecasts the impact of this huge “gamble.” S’pore is attempting to compete with Hong Kong in becoming an entertainment destination; many think S’pore will come out on top. More think that the local gamblers will become more important than cash from foreigners. As an aside, one of owners of MBS is the Las Vegas Sands. http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/index.php/features/44220-sizing-up-singapores-casino-project

Interestingly enough, The Straits Times has as section each week called “One Week in S’pore.” The newspaper’s artists express, in their own cartoons, the local stories of the week. One, in particular, this week was a satirical take on the story, “Get Yourself Banned from Casinos.” The opinion cartoon was in response to the report of how you can get yourself voluntarily “excluded” from the two upcoming casinos in S’pore. The efforts are coming from National Council on Problem Gambling. See story and comments below – the comments are pretty interesting…needless to say, this Casino/Integrated Resort (IR) is sparking controversy.
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_459378.html