On the eve of the stone-laying ceremony for the Bintan Beach International Resort in 1994, Singapore's then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described the Singapore-Indonesia joint development as an integrated resort (IR). The Singapore Government used the same description a decade later for developments with a casino when it deregulated casino gaming.
The term is now common parlance, thanks to the success of Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). They spawned ringers in the Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam, but none came close to emulating the Singapore duopoly. Meanwhile, Japan laboured for 20 years to finally pass casino gambling into law in 2018 but received only two bids for its three IR licences after all the hype.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Read the full story and more at $9.90/month
Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month
ST One Digital
$9.90/month
No contract
ST app access on 1 mobile device
Unlock these benefits
All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device
E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you
