Resorts World at Sentosa completes S$4b credit syndication

Resorts World at Sentosa completes S$4b credit syndication
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 24 April 2008 1934 hrs

SINGAPORE : Resorts World at Sentosa has completed the syndication of S$4 billion in credit facilities for its resort development.

The tenure of the loan extends to 2015. The loan is one of the largest to be successfully undertaken in Singapore.

In a statement on Thursday, Resorts World said the borrowings were made at an interest rate of 175 basis points above the Singapore Swap Offer Rate.

A total of 10 banks were involved in the syndication, which is jointly underwritten by five original mandated lead arrangers - DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

The credit facilities will fund two-thirds of the resort's S$6 billion project cost.

Resorts World has since awarded more than S$2 billion in building contracts for works on four of its six hotels, as well as its main thoroughfare Festive Walk.

It said progress on the resort is on track for an early 2010 soft opening. - CNA /ls

Resorts World at Sentosa awards largest contract of S$1.05b to date

Resorts World at Sentosa awards largest contract of S$1.05b to date
By Channel NewsAsia Posted: 23 April 2008 1820 hrs

SINGAPORE: Resorts World at Sentosa has awarded its largest building contract to date, worth S$1.05 billion, to a joint venture between major Japanese contractor Kajima Overseas Asia Pte. Ltd. and local player Tiong Seng Contractors (Pte) Ltd.

This brings the total building contracts awarded so far to over S$2 billion. The S$6 billion integrated resort is slated for completion in early 2010.

Kajima-Tiong Seng will construct three of the six hotels in Resorts World and the resort's thoroughfare, FestiveWalk.

The three hotels - Maxims Residences, Hotel Michael and Festive Hotel - will offer some 1,000 suites and rooms out of the 1,800 to be found throughout the resort.

The contract also includes the construction of a 15,000-square-metre casino located at the basement of Maxims Residences which will feature gaming rooms, suites and lounges.

The joint venture will also build a dual purpose 1,600-seat Le Vie showroom, which doubles as a Plenary Hall, in Festive Hotel. - CNA/vm

Stick with 50:50 percent gains or losses

Let's face it...a lot of money management tips are hard to remember, especially in the heat of battle. So, the best is the simplest strategy. Quit gambling when you are double or halved your bankroll for each game. Gather at least an outline of what you want to play and how much you want to proportionate to each games. If you are scared of poker tables, but you want to play, then plan to devote just a slice of your bankroll to the game. But if you decide to wager more on the poker tables, then plan to wager less on another game.

Whatever you do, keep your overall bankroll the same, no matter how you decide to divide it. And then play the games as much as you like until you have won or lost 50 percent of that original bankroll. Just count the bankroll not what you win from the house. For example if you come in with $200 to spend on the blackjack tables, then play till you have won approx $300 or you are reduced to $100. Then walk away, come back later or the next day. If you go back to blackjack, then play the new $300 like it was $200. Put that extra +$100 into your pocket! If you were not so lucky, play the $100 like its $100 because that was what left of your original bankroll.

Keep going that way. If you double your money during at least one session of play, then at most you lose is $100. If you come out ahead a few times, then you are a winner. If you lose everyday, then the most you lost is $200, the amount you decided in advance you could lose, if lady luck decides not to grace her presence. It's a simple strategy, easier said than done, but using this then gambling will be fun, win or lose. Always remember : if gambling stops being fun, then stop gambling!

Progressive Money Management Strategies

Gambling experts are full of advice about how to protect your capital or bankroll i.e. the amount of money you brought with you to gamble. Some argue you should play as though your winnings didn't belong to you. The thinking goes : It's the casino's money right? You came in with $500. That $200 you won is a bonus. Other say that's dumb. Once you win money, it is your money. Pretending it isn't could cause you to play recklessly. Some say that when you win big, you should let that bet ride one last time. Others say that's crazy. Knowing when and being able to walk away from the table when you are ahead is one of gambling's golden rules. There's no way to guarantee you will walk away a winner from any casino.

Bankroll management is all about minimizing losses, the following ensures you have fun gambling and then leave if not a winner, at least not a BIG loser.

• Build your bank roll into your travel plans.
  If you have saved up a few thousand dollars to spend on hotels, restaurants, and non-gambling activities, then treat that money like it does not exist when you get to the gambling tables.


• Treat your gambling capital as money expressly to be used for gambling only.
  Don't think to yourself :"I'm going to lose this cash", but don't start expecting to double it and pay for a brand new apartment in Orchard Road. Be able to answer with a firm "NO" the question : will I lose several nights of sleep of I lose this capital.


• Protect your money by taking breaks.
  If you win a particularly big pot, then quit while you are ahead. Walk away a winner. There isn't that nicer? You can hold your head up high. The odds favour the house in every single games, so you will lose if you keep playing. But if you win and take a break, then you can decide - calmly and not in the heat of the moment - whether to continue gambling.


• Wear a watch and keep an eye on the time.
  Casinos do their best to creat sensory-manipulation chambers (IF you can find a clock in the new Singapore IR casinos' tables, I will buy you a drink!) Quit every hour or so and walk around till your head is clear.


• Quit after a certain number of hands or slot pulls.
  This is a good strategy if you don't want to be a slave to time.

A good rule of thumb is to gamble only as long as it makes you happy. If you get on a losing streak and start raising your bets to get your money back, odds are you will just lose more. And then you will feel miserable. It's time to get up and get some fresh air!

Stick to a limit

The inner dialogue of many gamblers probably sounds a lot like this :"Oh Man, it's the casino, I come here twice a year...I know I said I was only gonna play with $500, but that was before I got here and started having all this fun. It's like there are free drinks - but only if I am playing. Forget about that limit. Where's the ATM? Sure, I have been losing, but lady lck will start smiling on me any minute now."

Casino love guys like this. That's why they offer them freebies. That way, even if luck does not turn out to be a lady, you will be back the next day to flirt with her again. And eventually, the house will win because the odds are in its favour.

Casinos are designed to make players chase their losses. They reward winners, and you, of course, are a sophisticated card shark and a sultan of slots. It's tempting to try to impress folks in a casino. Take the dealer for instance, like the guards outside the Istana, they are often an impassive lot. Those inscrutable faces can entice novice players into making a bold, daring move that will raise an eyebrow or earn a smile.

The best way to avoid the chorus of sounds that lure you away from your money is to set a gamling limit before you walk through the casino's door. Don't bet more than you can afford to lose. (This holds true for the stock market as well!) And that's true if the loss is monetary or emotional. Some folks can afford to lose five thousand dollars, but if lose it makes them feel like rubbish, than the emotional toll is not worth the risk for them. Your best bet, if you are going to be at a casino for several days is to decide on a daily limit. Take only the chosen amount with you to the tables or slots.

And finally play to win. Don't think by being a cynical, too-cool-to-fool sort that you will come out feeling like a winner. If you go into a casino thinking, I am briing $500 to lose, then you are playing not to lose, instead of playing to win. You will make bets because you got a I-don't-care attitude. You will make big bets just to be able to say you did it, thinking you are going to lose $500 anyway, right? If you are playing smart, playing to win, then you are more likely to walk out a winner than a pre-determined loser.

A fool and his money....

"A fool and his money are soon parted."

"Anything that sounds too good to be true IS too good to be true."

The difference with gambling is that you CAN get something for almost nothing, and though your odds of winning ten hands of blackjack in a row or striking the huge jackpot are not the strong, it COULD happen. It provides the hope/fantasy of winning BIG and celebrating in the face of all the other gamblers. But remember one very important rule : Casinos offer games of skill and games of chance. And some with both. There are no sure-fire strategies for games of chance, the results of which are purely random. The only thing that wil cause you to win them is blind luck.

The best gambling strategies will not assure you win or lose, but they will keep you from having to mortgage your house. First of all, know how to play a game before you wager any money on it. Also, pick a gambling limit and stick to it. If you are a low stakes player, then you may decide that $200 is the magic number. Once you lose that, even if it's only the second day of your vacation, stay away from the tables. And finally, the time to raise your bet is when you are winning. Never raise a bet when you are losing. Odds are in the casino's favour, so don't throw good money after the bad. Casinos make a lot of money from novice gamblers trying to turn around a losing streak.

Casino Psychology

All casinos are designed to be a colourful noisy sensory overload. All the bells, whistles and furnishings have one purpose : to separate you, the gambler, from your money.

The most ubiquitous games of chance in average casinos are slot machines, and casinos make excellent use of them. When someone wins, alarms ring and coins fall with a thunderous crash into a metal basin designed to be as loud as possible. The bigger the win, the more sustained the alarm. These sounds are sure to make the most seasoned gambler salivate as he dips eagerly into his pocket and seek the nearest slot machine.

At table games, crisp ten dollar notes become stacks of colourful plastic, it gives the impression taht they are not real money. Losing a few plastic chips don't matter, do they?

The casino psychology also affets the time-space continuum, because clocks are NEVER visible in Casinos, unless you look inside the workers in the Casino "cages" where winnings are gathered. You won't even know if it's day or night. Windows are scarce as royal flushes in most casino.

And human nature always helps casinos too, it is not surprising that losing big time is silent and hushed, while winning a small amount is louder than an army. And everyone loves a winner and crowds around him/her.

Construction of S'pore's first Hard Rock Hotel to start in May 2008

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Construction of S'pore's first Hard Rock Hotel to start in May 2008
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 08 April 2008 2003 hrs

SINGAPORE: Construction of Singapore's first Hard Rock Hotel which will be located at the upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa will begin in May. The 360-room hotel is one of six to be developed and fans and visitors will be grooving to it when the famous chain opens in 2010. Together, the hotels will provide 1,800 rooms but this might still not be enough. Elena Arabadjieva, Deputy Vice-President, Resort Marketing, Resorts World at Sentosa, said: "We have 15 million visitors projected for the first year of operation, out of which 60% will be from overseas. We will definitely have challenges accommodating all our guests. Therefore, we are working with the hotels on the island to forge out some partnership. "In the years to come, we are looking at different opportunities, from block booking part of the properties and other forms of partnership."

The S$346 million five-star hotel will include 20 conference rooms and they are expected to be in high demand especially, the massive ballroom which will have no columns. This will be located at the basement of the Hard Rock Hotel and could take up to 7,300 people. The Hard Rock Hotel chain has operations in the US and around the region, including Bali, Penang and Pattaya. Resorts World has been promoting its wide range of offerings in trade shows overseas. It’s expected to rev up its marketing activities in 2009 in Southeast and North Asia, Australia as well as Europe.

The Hard Rock Hotel is part of the S$6 billion resort development. It's also the first of six hotels to begin construction work after the building contract was awarded to Low Keng Huat Limited. The construction firm edged out two other bidders to secure the deal. Resorts World said Low Keng Huat was selected based on its proven track record and its expertise in building construction and property development, especially in the hospitality-related sectors. This deal is the latest in a string of construction contracts amounting to over S$1 billion that have been awarded so far. - CNA/vm

Attractiveness of Casinos

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Have you wondered why casinos are so attractive? Why is that with online gambling so prevalent now, that Major Corporations are still building multi-billion dollar casinos in Macau and Singapore, with more planned for in Asia? Well, casinos are the equivalent to theme parks for adults, They are filled with excitement and fast-paced action, the chance to win something for almost nothing, and even free drinks. It is just like watching a soccer match at the National Stadium vs watching it on TV, the atmosphere, the crowd and the scent of money can only be experienced in person. The shouts of winners who made the dealer bust, are like the screams of delight from kids riding down a roller coaster. And the theme park illusion is even greater from the outside of a casino, a place of fantasy and wonder.
Unlike theme parks, when you simply find a ride, wait in line for a long time and go. You need to know how to play casino games. If you walk up to a table and you are ignorant, then you are going to lose money, and it doesn't take long to lose a lot.

Slot machines are popular because they are so simple. But even they require some understanding. Some pertinent questions include : How many coins does the machine take for a maximum payout? Does the machine have bonus payouts? Is this machine part of a progressive jackpot?

Table games can be extremely complicated. Throwing caution to the winds and laying your money down without understanding the finer points of a game is not smart. For example, the rules on when a dealer must take a hot for Blackjack can differ at various casinos. Plus, your odds of winning are better at a single-deck table than one with a five-deck shoe. In a nutshell, arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, and if patience is your virtue, take a minute or two to observe and understand before taking the plunge.

The House Advantage

You don't think those gleaming pleasure palaces called casinos make enough money to offer live bands and free entertainment? Wake up! All games of chance are based on odds: the mathematical calculation of a given outcome's likelihood. And you can be certain that the casino, or house will have the best odds for every game.

A simple way to think about odds is to take out a coin. If you flip it into the air, odds are one in two that the coin will land with the coat of arms. There are only two sides to a coin, so there are only two possible outcomes. Simple right? Even if you take that coin tossed it 25 times and it always comes up heads it is just a fluke. Every toss are independent of each other.

Of course, casino games are more complicated. Once you have figured out the number of possible outcomes, you can figure out the probability or odds of getting a particular outcome. Surely casino don't offer simple games like betting on the coin toss. Instead, they favour games with a great probability of outcomes and variable odds. The one thing all games in a casino have in common is that their odds ultimately favour the house.

At the casino. you might be on a winning streak, but odds are that over time the house will win back the money you bet on and more. This is called the "House Advantage" If after your hot streak has cooled, you come back, , it is a given that you will pay back every cent that you have earned from the casino. BUT, odds don't take into consideration, dumb blind luck. That's why all gamblers have their lucky charm and superstitious practices.

History of Gambling

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Gambling would probably be one of the oldest entertainment activities, ranking along side with prositution as the oldest trade. Dice are thought to be the oldest gaming equipment. They were found back in 3,000 BC. And gamblers attracted to the casinos in Las Vegas or Macau or Singapore (soon-to-be) may be pleased to lean that dice were also found in the great Pyramids. There is also evidence of Indians betting on chariot races in 1,500 BC. The winners took home estates, slaves, wives and finally money.

Playing cards have only been around since the 14th century but lotteries have been around for millennia. They weren't always used like Singapore Pools for charity and noble causes. The ancient Aztecs would have their still beating hearts torn from their bodies to honour their gods!

The ultimate paradise for gambling started in 1905, the wildest west town of them all of born : Las Vegas. (Though many Chinese will now dispute that it is Macau). In 1931, the state legalized gambling, and soon, small casinos sprang up around the train depot where the city began. By the 1940s, some casinos were way out of town, on the highway that led to LA. Then, in 1946 mobster"Bugsy" opened the fabulous Flamingo on what is now known as the Strip. A mobster helped transform a town filled with sawdust and cowpokes to the glitz and bright lights of the Sin City Las Vegas we all know today.

What games would likely be offered?

Besides the expected common Slot Machines (i.e. Jackpot or Fruit Machines) which are already available in my social clubs and even at SAFRA, what casino games would likely be offered to Singaporeans?

A good indication is what is already offered by these two gaming organizations in their other casinos worldwide.

For example, Genting Highlands in Malaysia offers table games of :

• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Roulette
• Paigow
• Tai Sai
• Caribbean Stud Poker
• Casino War
• Three Card Poker
• Three Pictures

I also know that Genting has just introduced Texas Hold'em Poker recently.
Also Genting offers Keno for those who believe their luck lies in lucky numbers.

At the Sands Venetian in Macao, the following are offered.

• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Caribbean Stud
• Roulette
• Sic Bo
• Fish Prawn Crab
• Three-Card Poker

Intro to this blog

Singapore Govt had decided in 2005 to build two Integrated Resorts which will house the first legalized casinos in Singapore. The IRs will also have other amenities including hotels, restaurants, shopping and convention centers, theaters, museums and theme parks. The IRs in Singapore are expected to create about 35,000 jobs directly and indirectly.

(1) Marina Bay Sands Resort is expected to open in end 2009.

(2) Resorts World at Sentosa is expected to open in early 2010.

Objective of this blog : To provide updates on the IR development, but also provide locals with insights to Casino Gaming.