Name? Check. Home address? Check. Identity card or passport number? Check. Total value of casino rebates and complimentary services received? Check.
Would-be high rollers hoping to test the tables at one of Singapore's two soon-to-open casino mega resorts will have to provide these details and more in order to comply with recently published regulations on VIP gaming in the city state.
For prospective gambling junket organisers, which are responsible for delivering the majority of casino revenue in places such as Macau and a number of which are listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the regulatory bar is set even higher. Junket organisers and agents must submit detailed financial disclosures, foot the bill for their own background checks and submit to finger and palm printing, among other measures.
Analysts say the toughness of the long-awaited measures are largely expected, and while Singapore may lose some high-stakes players as a result, its casinos are expected to rely far less on the high-volume, low-margin VIP market than Macau.
Still, the rules signal the regulatory environment that two of the world's most expensive casinos will face when they open in the first half of this year. Las Vegas Sands Corp is spending an estimated US$6 billion to develop the 2,500-room Marina Bay Sands - more than double the budget for the company's Venetian Macao, which opened in 2007. Malaysia's Genting Group is developing a 59-hectare Sentosa Island resort that includes a Universal Studios theme park at an estimated US$4.7 billion.
Singapore's VIP gaming rules were 'more stringent than the requirements in Macau but in line with our expectation', Morgan Stanley gaming analyst Praveen Choudhary wrote in a research note. 'The need to provide personal details of each junket player may deter players who prefer a discreet playing environment.'
Singapore's 2005 decision to formally end its 40-year-old ban on casino gambling was calculated in part to soften its traditionally prickly image, somewhat.