I'm not sure if I should praise or thrash Resort World at Sentosa. It's great to see something happen on Sentosa, lets face it the place needed a major face lift if it was to compete with other tourist destinations. And despite the many new attractions I've no doubt that the biggest will be the new Casino. Great news for tourist, but it sucks to be a local ....
.... or a Permanent Resident (PR) for that mater since both will have to pay a $100 levy to gain entrance. Of course its called a "levy" not a "We want to prevent Singaporeans from gambling away their money tax" which is basically its intent of course. The Singapore Government is no doubt concerned for its people and has deemed this the best way to deter them from gambling. Yes, lets let all the tourists lose their money instead, not that anyone in Singapore will benefit from that move. And if its not enough, you can always pass on relatives details and have them totally banned from entering (or so the rumor has it).
Of course the levy (small chuckle on my part) lasts for only 24 hours, so if you are in mid-game when it runs out you will have to leave and re-enter to pay the levy again, its in the regulations. I wonder if we'll see jobs advertised for levy runners in the papers soon?
Speaking of jobs, the Resort World went to great pains to mention that approximately 70% of the work force are Singaporeans. I'm not sure why they are boasting of that since I remember seeing the adds in the papers with statements like only Singaporeans need apply. So I'm not sure boasting about an openly discriminatory policy is a good thing.
Still, I guess its nice to see Sentosa have a facelift, although if you do drop into the Casino for a flutter take care. You don't only have to worry about the levy (another chuckle from me) but you'll also have to battle with the Feng Shui which is most definitely not going to be in your favor.
Hmmmmmmm ....... I wonder if pre-paid levies will become the new birthday gift, mines the 24th September just in case.
.... or a Permanent Resident (PR) for that mater since both will have to pay a $100 levy to gain entrance. Of course its called a "levy" not a "We want to prevent Singaporeans from gambling away their money tax" which is basically its intent of course. The Singapore Government is no doubt concerned for its people and has deemed this the best way to deter them from gambling. Yes, lets let all the tourists lose their money instead, not that anyone in Singapore will benefit from that move. And if its not enough, you can always pass on relatives details and have them totally banned from entering (or so the rumor has it).
Of course the levy (small chuckle on my part) lasts for only 24 hours, so if you are in mid-game when it runs out you will have to leave and re-enter to pay the levy again, its in the regulations. I wonder if we'll see jobs advertised for levy runners in the papers soon?
Speaking of jobs, the Resort World went to great pains to mention that approximately 70% of the work force are Singaporeans. I'm not sure why they are boasting of that since I remember seeing the adds in the papers with statements like only Singaporeans need apply. So I'm not sure boasting about an openly discriminatory policy is a good thing.
Still, I guess its nice to see Sentosa have a facelift, although if you do drop into the Casino for a flutter take care. You don't only have to worry about the levy (another chuckle from me) but you'll also have to battle with the Feng Shui which is most definitely not going to be in your favor.
Hmmmmmmm ....... I wonder if pre-paid levies will become the new birthday gift, mines the 24th September just in case.