TODAY newspaper reported that Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which operates one of the two casinos here in Singapore has retrenched about 400 staff citing difficulties in its casino business. The paper said that of RWS’s 12,000 strong staff, 150 croupiers, 200 supervisors and 25 pit managers have been affected by the downsizing exercise.
The double whammy of the Chinese President’s anti-corruption drive and the faltering Chinese economy have affected the high-rollers who are the big-spenders in RWS. RWS told the employees it retrenched that it took the action because the gaming company anticipated that their business situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
In making an executive decision on approving the two Integrated Resorts here in Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong said in 2005:
“The whole region is on the move. If we do not change, where will we be in 20 years’ time? Losing our appeal to tourists is the lesser problem. But if we become a backwater, just one of many ordinary cities of Asia, instead of being a cosmopolitan hub of the region, then many good jobs will be lost, and all Singaporeans will suffer. And we cannot afford that.<…>Altogether, MTI estimates that the two IRs will create about 35,000 jobs, counting jobs within the IRs, plus spinoffs throughout the economy.”
In 2006 the Government’s mouthpiece Channel NewsAsia said that RWS is expected to generate about $2.7 billion in Value-Add to Singapore’s annual Gross Domestic Product and about 30,000 jobs by 2015.
