Singapore Tightens Rules On Casino Advertising

Singapore is tightening its rules on casino advertising as part of efforts to limit the social impact its two integrated resorts have on the city-state's residents, the government said Friday.

The island nation's Casino Control (Advertising) Regulations have been expanded to cover promotional activities--including membership campaigns and loyalty programs--that weren't regulated previously, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports said in a statement. The rules previously applied only to advertisements.

"The casinos are meant to be tourist products and should remain so. We are prepared to strengthen social safeguards as and when necessary to ensure that there is no targeting of our domestic market," Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing said in the statement.

Under the rules, the integrated resorts' two casino operators--Genting Singapore PLC (G13.SG), which runs Resorts World Sentosa, and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS), which runs Marina Bay Sands--must continue to seek the ministry's approval for all casino advertising and promotions, media-related activities, and community sponsorship. Operators will still face fines of up to S$100,000 if they flout the advertising regulations, the ministry added.

Singapore officially sanctioned casino gambling in 2005 in a bid to boost tourism arrivals and grow its service economy, before opening the two integrated resorts early last year.

To placate critics who argued the casinos would destroy Singapore's reputation for low crime and family-friendly living, the government introduced measures to contain gambling-related social problems.

These include a ban on minors, an entry levy system for local residents, casino exclusions orders, disallowing gambling on credit for locals, and restrictions on casino advertising.

-By Chun Han Wong, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]