Singapore Regulator Fines Casinos S$385,000 For Entry Breaches

Singapore's Casino Regulatory Authority has fined the city-state's two licensed operators a total of S$385,000 for failing to prevent unauthorized persons entering gaming areas.

The regulator fined Las Vegas Sands Corp.(LVS)-run Marina Bay Sands S$255,000, it said in a statement issued Monday, explaining that breaches took place between Oct. 28, 2010 and April 30, 2011. It fined Genting Singapore Ltd. (G13.SG)-run Resorts World Sentosa S$130,000 for breaches between Aug. 15, 2010 and April 30, 2011.

Both cases involve the admission of minors, excluded persons and allowing Singapore citizens and permanent residents to enter the casino without paying entry levies or on expired levy payments. The government requires citizens and permanent residents to pay S$100 to enter the casinos for a continuous period of 24 hours.

The CRA said Resorts World Sentosa was also separately censured for five similar incidents.

"These social safeguards are put in place to mitigate the casino's potential impact on vulnerable persons and to ringfence the casinos from potential criminal influence," CRA Chief Executive Lau Peet Meng said.

"Hence, we are taking tough disciplinary action against the casino operators for the cases where they have failed to show due care in complying with our requirements to prevent minors and excluded persons from entering the casinos, and to ensure that entry levies are duly paid."

-By Sam Holmes, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]