Why Singapore is seen as the model for Japan’s casino gamble

Despite being one of the world’s top casino gambling destinations, Singapore is a mere shadow of Macau or Las Vegas, with its only two casinos tucked away inconspicuously in sprawling resort facilities meant to beckon residents with other delights rather than betting.

The wealthy but strait-laced island nation broke with its Asian conservatism to allow the first two casinos to be established in 2010 as part of so-called integrated resorts – the Marina Bay Sands downtown and the Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island, off southern Singapore.

In doing so, it took a highly regulated, calibrated approach that tried to find a balance between the need to stay ahead of the competition as a tourist destination while also introducing safeguards to shelter the local population from the social ills of gambling.

“Many governments like Japan want to study the Singapore model, maybe [because] we have effectively pioneered one in which we are able to extract the maximum benefits of casino gaming and yet minimising the downside, minimising because you can’t run away from the fact that there will be social disamenities,” said Eugene Tan, associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University.