A 50 percent increase in the entry fee for locals imposed by the Singapore Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) is keeping Singapore residents away from the city-state’s two casinos, Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands and Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa.
The increase in the 24-hour entry fee for locals from SG$100 to SG$150, and the annual levy from $SG$2,000 to SG$3,000, led to a drop in local visitation to the casinos from 4 percent to 2.7 percent in the first full year of the increased levies, which CRA Chairman Tan Tee How said was meant to ensure that Singaporeans “continue to be protected against the potential harms of casino gambling.”
Tan announced the impact of the increased fees in the regulator’ annual report. He said the CRA is “well-placed to take on the greater responsibilities as we embark on this transformational journey.
“Since CRA’s establishment in 2008, CRA has rapidly built up the requisite knowledge and sharpened our regulatory acumen and operational capabilities to establish a strong casino regulatory regime.
“The reconstituted agency will be able to draw on CRA’s rich experiences in regulating the casinos, and its extensive network of international partners, while pooling together expertise in other forms of gambling regulation from other government agencies such as the Gambling Regulatory Unit within the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
Singapore will establish a new gaming regulator in 2021, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA), bringing together the current CRA, which oversees Singapore’s casinos, and the Gambling Regulatory Unit, which regulates remote gambling services and street slot machines known as “fruit machines.”
