STOMPer Liz and her friend had been first to the table, but were told to move to another table by this group of tourists.
The STOMPer said in an email today (Feb 25):
"This group of unreasonable tourists actually came up to my friend and told us to move to another table.
"I cannot believe this! We were the ones who came first."
SINGAPORE: Las Vegas Sands has said it plans to open the first phase of its US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands development on 27 April 2010.
The date was announced by Las Vegas Sands in a statement on its website.
In the statement, Marina Bay Sands chief executive officer, Thomas Arasi, was quoted as saying that the integrated resort plans to open its 963 hotel rooms – part of the shopping mall and convention center – as well as dining outlets and casino on April 27.
This he said was subject to construction proceeding as scheduled and being able to attain the necessary regulatory approvals.
Marina Bay Sands expects to host its first event, the Inter-Pacific Bar Association’s annual conference, just days after opening its doors.
The second phase will open on June 23, as part of the grand opening. This will include the opening of the SkyPark and Event Plaza.
In October, one of the integrated resorts two state-of-the-art theatres will welcome Disney’s The Lion King. Marina Bay Sands said the second theatre, which will also open later this year, will be home to a variety of special events and famous headline acts.
Moreover, the iconic Marina Bay Sands museum is expected to open by December. It will feature international blockbuster exhibitions.
SINGAPORE: Singapore opened the first of two casino resorts Sunday, part of a multi-billion dollar bet to transform itself into a hot tourist destination and reduce the economy’s reliance on manufacturing.
The casino at Resorts World Sentosa welcomed its first punter – a middle aged Singaporean woman – at the auspicious time of 12:18 pm (0418 GMT) on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
When pronounced in the Cantonese dialect, 12:18 sounds like "prosperity".
The first bettor was followed by an initial crowd of about 200 enthusiastic gamblers and within hours of the opening, hundreds more were queuing up outside. Ushers gave out free bottled water and ice cream in the sweltering tropical heat.
The opening – to be followed within months by a second casino resort built by Las Vegas Sands in Singapore’s business district – is part of an ambitious plan to transform the city into a key destination for casino high-rollers, business executives and families.
"I’ll probably play jackpot. I’m willing to wager around a hundred (dollars) in it," said Tiong Tak Si, 60, a retiree from Brunei.
Resorts World Sentosa, which is on Sentosa island, a former British garrison linked to the main island by bridge, is owned by Malaysian gaming giant Genting Group.
"We have waited a long time for this. Today’s opening of the casino is a milestone for Resorts World Sentosa, for Genting Group and for Singapore," said group chairman Lim Kok Thay.
The construction of Resorts World Sentosa, together with the Las Vegas Sands’ casino resort, Marina Bay Sands, is costing more than US$10 billion.
They will also offer visitors a range of glitzy hotels, restaurants and luxury goods shops.
Genting’s casino complex includes a Universal Studios movie theme park, which it opened Sunday for sneak previews ahead of full operations.
Singapore, host to thousands of multinational corporations, is already a major travel draw because of its reputation for safety, cleanliness and efficiency, as well as man-made attractions such as top-end shopping malls.
However, it is a tiny island which lacks the white-sand beaches and breath-taking scenery found in neighbouring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia and the government is continually searching for new ideas to create a buzz about the city-state.
In 2008 it made sporting history when it hosted the world’s first Formula One night race.
It has built the world’s biggest observation wheel, the Singapore flyer, and an arts venue and has given its prime Orchard Road shopping belt a makeover.
Now it plans a landscaped area called Gardens by the Bay near the Marina Barrage built in 2008.
The city-state is aiming to get 17 million visitors a year generating more than US$21 billion by 2015, up from 9.7 million visitors last year.
Analysts expect the casino resorts to help the city meet those targets.
"There is clearly a push to add to the range and depth of attractions here and that is important for a place like this," said Robert McIntosh, an executive director with CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific, a consultancy firm.
"They (casino resorts) are a massive boost to overall tourism to Singapore," he told AFP.
Lim said he is confident the resort will meet its 13 million visitor target annually.
"As you know we are running a sequence of openings, going back as far as a month ago, when we first opened the hotels namely the Festive hotel, followed by the Hard Rock, then Michael and then the Crockford’s tower," he said.
"We have created 8,300 jobs and that number is still growing. Seventy per cent of the jobs have gone to Singaporeans. Resorts World Sentosa is the latest addition and the crown jewel in our chain in Integrated Resorts."
CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, an independent brokerage firm, said Singapore’s casinos are expected to generate revenues of US$2.1 billion this year, rising to US$3.5 billion in 2011.
Singapore in 2005 agreed to go ahead with the two casino resorts after a rare public debate.
Opponents feared gambling would threaten the city’s "family values" and put it at risk of becoming a centre for money-laundering.
But the government has put in safeguards, including imposing a S$100 entrance fee for Singaporeans and permanent residents and banning anyone declared bankrupt from the casinos outright.
Last month it launched a dedicated police unit to investigate casino-related crimes.
A MALAYSIAN stall assistant became the first man here to be accused of sexual grooming – a charge which targets sexual predators who prey on underage girls with the intention of having sex with them.
He was charged in a district court yesterday with three counts of the sexual grooming of two underage girls.
In both cases, Loh Kuat Fung, 25, met the girls at least twice, before meeting them again intending to have sex. But it is not known if he did have sex with either girl.
The law against sexual grooming was introduced in Parliament in 2007 and came into effect in February 2008.
Loh is said to have intentionally met one of the girls, then aged 13, on two occasions with the intention of having sex.
The first incident took place on Sept 29, 2008 when he met the student at Simei MRT station.
Less than a fortnight later – on Oct 8 – he again travelled to meet the girl, this time at a fast-food restaurant at Tampines Bus Interchange.
Another charge accuses him of meeting a then 15-year-old student at a fitness corner in the Simei area, again with the intention of having sex with the girl.
He had communicated with her at least twice before their Sept 29, 2008 meeting.
Meeting or communicating with the minor “on at least two prior occasions” can amount to sexual grooming.
The law states that a person above the age of 21 is liable for the offence when he “intentionally meets or travels to meet a minor with the intention of committing a sexual offence with the minor”.
A person convicted of sexual grooming can be jailed for up to three years or fined or both.
Anyone who pays for a prostitute under 18 can also be jailed, fined or both.
It is also an offence to seek and pay for sex with a minor outside Singapore.
Loh, who is out on police bail, was represented by a lawyer.
He also faces two other charges of possessing three video clips containing three films without a valid certificate and seven obscene video clips at a flat in Hougang on Jan 20 last year.
A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for March 8.
Sex with underage girls is a growing concern.
Police disclosed that cases of statutory rape – sex involving girls aged between 12 and 14 – have risen sharply over the years, from nine in 2003, to 61 in 2008, to 83 last year.
SINGAPORE: Resorts World Sentosa’s casino in Singapore will open on Sunday, February 14, in time for the Lunar New Year.
Its Universal Studios theme park will also welcome its first visitors on that day, though rides and shows will only be operational in early March.
The casino will admit its first public guests at the auspicious hour of 12.18pm, with a private ceremony. A spokesman for the resort said that 12:18 when pronounced sounds like "striking prosperity" in Cantonese, which would bring good luck.
A day of festivities at the integrated resort has been planned to mark the red-letter day, including the debut of its public attraction "Lake of Dreams", and evening previews at its Universal Studios theme park.
Tan Hee Teck, CEO of Resorts World Sentosa, said the resort is still fine-tuning the rides and shows in the theme park, which are still on schedule to open in the first quarter of 2010.
But a week-long preview of the theme park will be conducted to give Singaporeans a special and unique first-to-see walk-through opportunity. The theme park’s restaurants and shopping venues will be open for guests, although rides and shows will not be operational.
For sneak peek week, Universal Studios Singapore will open from 5pm to 9pm every night from February 14 to February 21. Admission will be by S$10 tickets, rebated by a same-value dining voucher. Sale of the tickets starts from 11:18am on Friday.
Guests can visit the box office at the Universal Studios Singapore front gate to purchase tickets for another day, as there will be no same-day ticket sales available.
"The rationale behind buying advance tickets for the theme park is to ensure crowd control and to prevent over-crowding of the park. And similarly when the park is fully operational, we will have such measures to stagger the crowd coming into the theme park as and when," said Robin Goh, Resorts World Sentosa’s assistant director for communications.
After the sneak peek week, Universal Studios Singapore will open on February 22 to employees of Resorts World Sentosa, Genting and Universal Studios Singapore. This is followed by specially-invited families, charities and guests. It expects to welcome its first public guests in early March.
While some Singaporeans may flinch from having to pay a $100 levy to enter the casino, large crowds are expected on Sunday and the resort has built an additional payment booth to cope.
If you haven’t paid the levy online, you can still pay it at the door. All you need to do is to bring along your identity card or passport. Once you pay at the counter, the information will be stored into the barcode. Once that’s done, make your way to the lane for Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs), and you are all set!
Sentosa normally sees about 60,000 visitors each day during the Lunar New Year holidays – double the usual number. To cope with the crowd, it has beefed up public transport options and opened a new monorail station – Waterfront Station – which stops at the integrated resort. There is also a new pedestrian walkway.
David Goh, Sentosa Leisure Group’s director of operations and retail, said: "Chinese New Year…..there is going to be a large number of crowds. They can’t expect that traffic will be as smooth as on normal weekdays."
The island’s management says it is working with transport and traffic authorities to monitor traffic in the long term.
The S$6.6 billion integrated resort at Sentosa is opening in phases, starting with its hotels last month.
S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, said: "The important thing is that the opening of these important additions to our tourism landscape is done in a smooth manner, and in a manner that preserves the visitor experience, so that people will have memorable experiences and they will come back."