{"id":26135,"date":"2022-01-11T07:49:41","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T10:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26135"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:24:10","slug":"singapores-ir-expansion-plans-delayed-due-to-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/singapores-ir-expansion-plans-delayed-due-to-covid-19","title":{"rendered":"Singapore’s IR expansion plans delayed due to Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alvin Tan Sheng Hui, Singapore\u2019s Minister of State for Trade and Industry, has said expansion plans of Singapore\u2019s two integrated resorts will be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Singapore.- The Covid-19 pandemic has haltered IR expansion plans in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marina Bay Sands<\/strong> and Resort World Sentosa<\/strong> had plans to expand their venues and both IRs were going to invest S$4.5bn on non-gaming facilities. In exchange, both companies could be allowed to add gaming space and extra gaming machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Covid-19 pandemic and the new Omicron variant delayed plans<\/strong> according to Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Alvin Tan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both companies had planned to end expansion plans by 2025 <\/strong>but due to delays, it is still unknown if the companies will set a new timetable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, authorities announced the creation of a new gambling regulatory body<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed changes by the Ministry of Home Affairs included\u00a0fines of up to $500,000 and seven years imprisonment<\/strong>\u00a0for an\u00a0operator of illegal gambling services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another amendment would allow physical social gambling among family and friends <\/strong>while online social gambling among families and friends would remain banned “due to the complexities of differentiation”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MHA also wants to introduce a prize cap of SGD100 (US$74) for mystery boxes<\/strong>, arcade games and claw machines arguing that this will be sufficient to address the inducement effect of high-value prizes, without increasing the regulatory burden on operators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The update to gambling laws in Singapore<\/strong>, also stated the casino exclusivity of the current two operators, will also be extended until the end of 2030 and will introduce a new tax system for gross gaming revenue (GGR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new system, which will come into effect in March this year, the annual tax rate on mass GGR will increase from a flat rate of 15 per cent to 18 per cent <\/strong>on the first SGD3.1bn in GGR collected by casino operators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass GGR exceeding SGD3.1bn will be taxed at 22 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premium (or VIP) GGR is currently taxed in Singapore at a flat rate of 5 per cent. Under the new model, the first GGR of SGD2.4bn will be taxed at 8 per cent; premium GGR exceeding that figure will be taxed at 12 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alvin Tan Sheng Hui, Singapore\u2019s Minister of State for Trade and Industry, has said expansion plans of Singapore\u2019s two integrated resorts will be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Singapore's integrated resort expansion plans, involving S$4.5bn in non-gaming investments by Marina Bay Sands and Resort World Sentosa, are delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, Singapore is implementing significant regulatory reforms, including the establishment of a new gambling body, increased penalties for illegal operations, a prize cap for arcade games, extended casino exclusivity for current operators until 2030, and a new tiered Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) tax system effective March.","focusai_entities":"Alvin Tan Sheng Hui, Marina Bay Sands, Resort World Sentosa, Ministry of Home Affairs","focusai_location":"Singapore","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (1.0), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (1.0), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"IR Expansion Timeline?","query":"What is the revised timeline for the integrated resort expansions, and what are the projected financial implications of these delays for the operators?"},{"label":"GGR Tax Impact?","query":"How will the new tiered GGR tax system impact the profitability and investment strategies of Marina Bay Sands and Resort World Sentosa, particularly concerning mass versus premium segments?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16338,158],"tags":[23632],"class_list":["post-26135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-east-asia-news","category-slider-home","tag-integrated-resorts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26135"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777008552,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26135\/revisions\/777008552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}