S’PORE MARINA BAY SANDS INTEGRATED RESORT TO OPEN IN APRIL

By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Dec 21 (Bernama) –- Marina Bay Sands Singapore, one of the two
integrated resorts with casinos that are currently under construction here, will
be completed by end-March next year.

The S$5.5 billion (S$1=RM3.40) project, located at the Marina Bay
waterfront, was originally slated to be launched by year-end but was delayed due
to construction woes and the current rainy weather.

Its owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp chairman, Sheldon D. Adelson, said today if
there were no further delays the resort would be opened to the public in April
the latest.

Adelson was here since Sunday to see the final stages of construction of
the project which, when fully-completed, would boast a Las Vegas-styled casino,
a 2,600-room Sands Hotel, two 4,000-seat theatres, an exposition and convention
centre that can support 45,000 delegates, and a luxury shopping and dining
complex.

The other integrated resort-cum-casino which is scheduled to open in the
first quarter of next year, likely to be earlier than the Marina Bay Sands, is
the Genting Singapore’s Resort World Sentosa on the Sentosa resort island.

Adelson told a media conference here it would make no difference if the
rival casino were to open first as "we are a long-term investor" and would be
around for decades.

He said Las Vegas Sands did not want to be identified itself as a casino
operator but more of an integrated resort player.

On its future plans, Adelson said Las Vegas Sands was currently looking at
several potential places to open similar integrated resorts such as in Thailand,
India, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

But he said that would depend on who could offer the right location for an
integrated resort and the gaming licence needed to operate a casino.

-- BERNAMA