Singapore - $900m in tax revenues generated from casinos

SINGAPORE - Between the months of April 2011 to January 2012, $900 million in tax revenues was generated from the two integrated resort (IR) casinos, said Acting Minister for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Mr Chan Chun Sing.

This is on top of the overall net increase in casino tax revenues of about $900 million for the financial year of 2010.

Both amounts take into account the loss of tax revenues from the resultant decline of other gaming activities such as lotteries, horse and sports betting and fruit machines operated by clubs, Mr Chan said.

He was replying to Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Mr Gan Thiam Poh, who in addition to asking what is the total tax revenue generated by the two casinos, asked the minister to provide the total number of visitors who have visited the two casinos so far.

He also asked of this number, how many are Singaporeans and how many are repeat visits by Singaporeans.

Mr Chan said that data on the total number of visitors to the casinos reside with the IR operators.

However, the two operators recently released data which showed that 136,434 and 137,259 unique local patrons visited RWS and MBS casinos respectively in 2011.

Taking into account an estimated 30 per cent overlap in local visitors between both casinos, the number of locals who have visited the IR casinos in 2011 is thus around 200,000, he elaborated.

It was previously reported that the proportion of local casino visitor-ship is in the range of 20 to 30 per cent of total casino visitor-ship.

However, Mr Gan noted that most locals, even if they patronise the casinos, do not appear to visit frequently.

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that there is a small group of frequent gamblers which the Government is concerned about.

MCYS is thus looking into introducing "circuit-breakers" and expanding third-party casino exclusion for a small group of problem gamblers and financially vulnerable local gamblers who visit the casinos frequently.

MCYS will also be studying responsible gambling practices in other casino jurisdictions, such as Holland, Austria and Australia, and will consult the IR operators and public on these measures, he said.

AsiaOne

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