• Subscribe
  • Magazines
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Sunday 1 June 2025
  • zh-hant 中文
  • ja 日本語
  • en English
IAG
Advertisement
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Result
IAG
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • CNMI
    • Europe
    • Hong Kong
    • India
    • Japan
    • Laos
    • Latin America
    • Malaysia
    • Macau
    • Nepal
    • New Zealand
    • North America
    • North Korea
    • Philippines
    • Russia
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • UAE
    • Vietnam
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Result
IAG
No Result
View All Result

Malaysian lawmaker calls for Singapore to impose casino entry fee on his compatriots

Newsdesk by Newsdesk
Mon 29 Nov 2010 at 03:30
2
SHARES
46
VIEWS
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The voice of one regional lawmaker does not a policy make. But the call last week by a Malaysian politician to ban his fellow countrymen from being given ‘free’ trips to Singapore’s new casinos and even to charge them for entry could mark a new and unwelcome development.

It comes only weeks after the Singapore government banned the integrated resorts from providing free shuttle buses to Singapore residents. It’s one thing for the lawmakers within Singapore to pontificate about the dangers posed to their own people by gambling. It’s quite another thing when a lawmaker in a neighbouring sovereign country starts making threats against legitimate cross-border trade and freedom of movement for his own citizens.

Were such a precedent to be set, it could push the hinterland for the mass-market visitors to the Singapore casinos further and further from the Lion City. But that’s exactly what Tang Nai Soon, an ethnic Chinese state assemblyman for Johor, the Malaysian province next door to Singapore, suggested last Wednesday. He called for the Malaysian government to ask Singapore to stop its casinos from offering what he described as “free” trips to Malaysians. To put this in perspective, Johor Bahru, the capital of Mr Tang’s home state, Johor, is only eight miles from the Singapore border. Given that proximity, it wouldn’t be much of an expense either for independent tour operators or the casinos themselves to lay on free bus transfers to and from the casinos.

It makes a lot of sense for the casinos to market to this population, given that Johor is so close and so affluent. It makes the third largest contribution to national GDP of all Malaysia’s 16 states, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia. Johor also has a population of 3.4 million people—around 50% greater than the population of the federal capital Kuala Lumpur, 300 miles and five hours by bus to the north.

Perhaps more worrying for Genting Singapore and Las Vegas Sands Corp, the companies that run Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands respectively, is that state assemblyman Tang also wants Singapore to impose a casino entrance fee on Malaysians and to limit each Malaysian’s visits to a maximum 50 trips per year. There is already rumour (so far unsubstantiated) that Singapore might raise the daily casino entry fee to price its own low-income citizens off the premises.

There may be some political grandstanding in Mr Tang’s position. The population of Johor is predominantly Malay and predominantly Muslim. The state’s biggest economic development zone, Iskandar Malaysia just over the border from Singapore, has attracted around US$2 billion investment from the Middle East, including sovereign wealth funds in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Even leaving aside any cultural and religious element to the casino issue, the People’s Republic of China has already set a precedent for a paternalistic approach to casino access. But it used visas rather than pricing as the mechanism. Under the PRC’s individual visit scheme, independent Chinese travellers can currently make a maximum of 12 trips per year to Macau. But Macau is part of China, albeit a semi-autonomous part under the ‘One Country Two Systems’ policy. Malaysia and Singapore are separate countries.

Even with that political distinction, to outsiders it might not seem unreasonable for Malaysia to protect its people either by pricing the lower earners out of the Singapore casinos or limiting the number of trips they can make per year. But Malaysia is (in theory at least) a multi-party democracy, not a one-party state like China, and freedom of movement for its people is one of the pillars that support Malaysia’s political and economic system.

There are political and cultural factors, however, that could sway the Singaporean government to be sympathetic to curbs on Malaysian gamblers. Until 1965, Singapore was actually part of Malaysia. She was expelled because of political differences with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur. Singapore, the city-state, is ethnically overwhelmingly a Chinese community (about 74% of residents are of Chinese descent), but takes care to stay on reasonable terms with its own Malay minority and the Malay majority over the border. A pipeline from Johor supplies just under 40% of Singapore’s water, and Malaysia has in the past used the threat of cutting off that supply to exert political pressure on Singapore. Significant tensions between the different ethnic groups sharing the Malay peninsula remain an important political issue.

Were Singapore to agree to in some way limit Malaysians’ access to its casinos, though, it could cause significant damage to the government’s casino liberalisation strategy. That was precisely to create economic levers to boost foreign tourism receipts, not to relieve Singaporeans of their wages. Such exceptions granted to Malaysians could also encourage populist politicians in neighbouring Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, to push for a similar exclusion or limitation on their own citizens. And that in effect would amount to a low-key regional trade war.

RelatedPosts

Marine attraction Singapore Oceanarium to open at Resorts World Sentosa on 23 July

Marine attraction Singapore Oceanarium to open at Resorts World Sentosa on 23 July

Mon 26 May 2025 at 14:40
Singapore’s Changi Airport now Asia’s busiest airport as Hong Kong falls further behind

Singapore’s Changi Airport Group sees profit double in 2024 on all-time passenger movements record

Fri 23 May 2025 at 06:10
10 Years Ago: Rearing for a comeback

Genting Singapore continues to show weakness in 1Q25 on hotel room renovation work, weak macro environment

Thu 15 May 2025 at 05:08
Two to Tango

Tan Hee Teck to retire as CEO of Genting Singapore and Resorts World Sentosa

Wed 14 May 2025 at 18:14
Load More
Tags: Genting GroupMBSResorts WorldSingapore
Share1Share
Newsdesk

Newsdesk

The IAG Newsdesk team comprises some of the most experienced journalists in the Asian gaming industry. Offering a broad range of expertise, their decades of combined know-how spans multiple countries across a variety of topics.

Current Issue

Editorial – Foreigner-only casinos: Seize the day

Editorial – Foreigner-only casinos: Seize the day

by Ben Blaschke
Thu 29 May 2025 at 13:38

I was recently asked by someone working at a foreigner-only casino for my thoughts on the outlook for the Asian...

On the brink

On the brink

by Pierce Chan
Thu 29 May 2025 at 13:27

The transition period for Macau’s 11 satellite casinos is set to expire at the end of this year, after which...

A moral defense of gambling

A moral defense of gambling

by Andrew Russell
Wed 28 May 2025 at 18:19

Economist Andrew Russell explores the differences between community benefit and in-principle arguments for the existence of a legal gambling industry...

Face to face

Face to face

by Ben Blaschke
Wed 28 May 2025 at 18:08

Konami caught the eye at the recent G2E Asia show in Macau with its SYNK Vision Tables, which utilize facial...

Evolution Asia
Aristocrat
GLI
Mindslot
Mindslot
Solaire
Hann
Tecnet
Nustar
Jumbo

Related Posts

Concerned parties welcome opportunity for high-level discourse ahead of Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable 

Concerned parties welcome opportunity for high-level discourse ahead of Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable 

by Ben Blaschke
Sun 1 Jun 2025 at 15:46

This week’s groundbreaking Thai Entertainment Complex Roundtable (TECR) has been described by local participants as a vital opportunity for all stakeholders, including international operators and those concerned about Thai casino legislation, to work together to achieve mutually agreeable outcomes.  In...

Less than one month remaining to MGS Summit 2022

Macau GGR sets new post-COVID high of MOP$21.2 billion in May

by Ben Blaschke
Sun 1 Jun 2025 at 12:53

Macau’s casinos recorded gross gaming revenue of MOP$21.19 billion (US$2.62 billion) in May, making it the biggest month of 2025 so far but also the largest since borders reopened in January 2023. According to information from the Gaming Inspection and...

2022 Asian Gaming Power 50: Ones to watch

Controlling shareholder Ng Man Sun steps down as Chairman, CEO and Executive Director of Century Entertainment

by Newsdesk
Sun 1 Jun 2025 at 12:02

Ng Man Sun, a renowned former Macau junket figure and controlling shareholder of Hong Kong-listed gaming investor Century Entertainment International Holdings, has stepped down as the Chairman and CEO and relinquished his role as a director, the company announced Friday....

Vietnam asks PM to grant approval for US$2 billion Van Don casino development in Quang Ninh province

Vietnam asks PM to grant approval for US$2 billion Van Don casino development in Quang Ninh province

by Newsdesk
Sun 1 Jun 2025 at 11:26

Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has reportedly submitted a proposal to the Prime Minister seeking approval to push forward with a VND51.5 trillion (US$2 billion) luxury casino-resort development in Quang Ninh province. The project is the same one previously proposed by...



IAG

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • SUBSCRIBE FREE
  • NEWSFEED
  • MAG ARTICLES
  • VIDEO
  • OPINION
  • TAGS
  • REGIONAL
  • EVENTS
  • CONSULTING
  • CONTRIBUTORS
  • MAGAZINES
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • ADVERTISE

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Subscribe
  • Newsfeed
  • Mag Articles
  • Video
  • Opinion
  • Tags
  • Regional
  • Events
  • Contributors
  • Magazines
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • About
  • Home for G2E Asia

© 2005-2024
Inside Asian Gaming.
All rights reserved.

  • English