There are now plans to invest $3.5 billion in two Singapore casinos. This is having Wall Street investors not so pleased. More than one-third casino revenue comes from Singapore already, because high rollers go to gamble abroad. They go because credit is banned for local players, and privacy is protected, unlike in the US.
Foreign visitors also are big in reverse for Las Vegas. Still those numbers do not beat Americans going abroad to gamble. The worse part is, casino executives say, federal visa and passport rules means that security precautions deters foreigners from coming to gambling destinations in the US. Students and other visas have been lowered since Sept. 11, 2001. Visitors who have come believe that the US is a hassle zone, and are not worth going back to, and they are telling their friends this. That is why numbers are so low, because when the Americans don’t gamble, and the tourists have trouble too, casinos are left relatively empty in comparison.
This, while not a desperate situation, is a sad one. The US casinos are being out done, and out played. This is all happening, and at the same not improving local and tourist incomings. If the US invests in other areas, it will utterly ruin the casinos on the American homeland. That is why investors aren’t happy, but nonetheless they are going forward with their deals in casinos in Singapore. |
