SINGAPORE - Sources have told TODAY that a local
businessman, who appeared on the latest Forbes list of Singapore's
40 richest people, recently lost a total of S$100 million at the
two casinos here.
While significant, this is a fraction of his
estimated net worth. But he's not the only high-roller to discover
that "the house always wins".
Around the same time, sources said, another tycoon
from the timber-rich East Malaysian state of Sabah lost S$50
million here.
"These guys can well afford the losses," said one high-roller who
is a regular at Singapore's two casinos - at Resorts World Sentosa
and Marina Bay Sands.
However, while gamblers losing S$10 million to S$20 million over a
few sessions in the rooms reserved for high-rollers are no longer a
rare breed, the source said that whispers of these two businessmen
parting with a total of S$150 million have raised more than a few
eyebrows, even among the regulars.
News of these two multi-million-dollar casino losers comes amid an
update that local businessman Henry Quek, who lost S$26 million
during a three-day gambling spree, is said to have settled his
debts.
Mr Quek, the managing director of Far Ocean Sea Products, a seafood
processing and trading company operating out of Fishery Port Road
in Jurong, had initially considered legal action against Resorts
World Sentosa for granting him credit too easily.
It is understood that the casino had shaved S$6 million off his
debt initially and another S$3 million after the media reports
about the case.
Mr Quek is said to have settled the rest of the outstanding debt.
Unlike Mr Quek, the two latest multi-million-dollar losers, who are
believed to have put their money at gaming tables of both Resorts
World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, are said to have absorbed their
losses without any complaints.
Against the backdrop of such mega-losses by individual
high-rollers, analysts say it is not surprising.
Mr Sheldon Adelson, chairman of Las Vegas Sands, parent of Marina
Bay Sands, predicted that Singapore could, in a few years, overtake
Las Vegas as the world's second-largest gaming centre behind
Macau.
- TODAY/rl
