Casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corp is not banking on using any VIP gambling junket operators at its US$6 billion Singapore casino resort because of the strictness of licensing requirements in the city state.
'We are building our [Singapore] organisation on the anticipation that we do no junket business,' Las Vegas Sands president and chief operating officer Michael Leven told an investors' conference in Las Vegas on Thursday.
'We think that junket operators will not apply for licences under the restrictions in Singapore, with the exception of potentially a few local junket operators out of Singapore itself. The disclosure items in that situation are very, very difficult and we don't think they'll do it,' he said.
Junket agents are the middlemen who bring high rollers to casinos, issue them credit for gambling and collect debts. They are ubiquitous in Macau, the world's largest casino market, where they drive the majority of VIP gambling volumes - including at Sands' own Venetian, Sands and Four Seasons casino hotels.
Macau's casinos rely on gamblers from China, where junkets often resort to extrajudicial methods of debt collection because - unlike in the United States, Singapore or even Hong Kong - casino debt is not enforceable via the court system.
At the same time, they are subject to only modest oversight. Macau had 167 corporate and individual 'gaming promoters' who were licensed to operate as of December, according to Macau Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau data published this week. But senior Macau officials have previously acknowledged that 4,000 junket 'collaborators' also operate in the city, and they are subject to little if any regulation.
In Singapore, by contrast, junket agents will be required to disclose highly detailed personal information about themselves and their players. Would-be high rollers travelling on junkets will be required to disclose their names, home addresses, passport numbers, and the value of all free amenities received from the casino or junket.
