SINGAPORE: It has been a week since the casino at Resorts
World Sentosa (RWS) opened. As of Friday evening, it has attracted
more than 128,000 visitors as well as its fair share of bouquets
and brickbats.
There were long queues on the first two days of its
opening and the wait could stretch for as long as two hours. The
queues could still come back as RWS was expecting a surge in
visitors after dinner on Saturday night, but they won't be as
long.
Robin Goh, assistant director for communications, RWS, said: "The
queues have kind of tapered off - for now. These queue lines are
still here. This being the first non-Chinese New Year weekend, we
are expecting large queues to come in as well.
"So we are going to put them (queue lines) here....just in case we
need to activate them. This is to make sure that the queues are
smooth and to make sure that people don't get all over the
place."
Currently, with at least three quarters of the casino opened, RWS
insists it is operationally ready.
But the 15,000-square-metre casino will not be able to cater to
20,000 people at any one time even when fully opened.
There have been calls to add more gaming tables but RWS said this
has to be approved by the Casino Regulatory Authority.
RWS is also grappling with unhappiness and confusion over the dress
code.
Some visitors were turned away for showing up in slippers, singlets
and shorts while others in the same attire were allowed in.
"Yesterday I wore slippers, can go inside casino. But today, I
can't," said a punter.
"They didn't tell me (what to wear) when I paid the $100 (levy),"
said another punter.
RWS said large signs on the dress code have already been posted
everywhere including at the entrance of the levy payment counter
for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.
Despite the teething problems, RWS said it will work on the
feedback from visitors and iron out the kinks as soon as
possible.
Meanwhile, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) said it
is too early to assess the social impact brought about by the
casino.
But the NCPG "has been engaging RWS on the implementation of
various social safeguards to minimize problem and addictive
gambling", said NCPG chairman Lim Hock San.
He added that the NCPG remains committed to ensuring that stringent
social safeguards put in place are effective, and continue to be
benchmarked with best practices in casinos worldwide.
- CNA/ir