Casino

Well, Singapore has completed building one of the 2 casinos at Resorts World Sentosa now. Prior to building the casino, it was said to be able to bring in more tourists to Singapore and create more jobs. More people get employed, and the Government earns more money from tourists and rich Singaporeans. Or at least this was what the Government hoped for and the messages they were sending out. What is their response to those who are afraid their friends, kin or themselves might get addicted? They set up a Problem Gambling Counselling Centres ( Not really sure what its called) in which people who are addicted can get themselves counselled and kick the habit of gambling, and they also put up advertisements discouraging gambling addiction. So far, there appears to be no problems with building a casino right? Surely there will be no problems with building a casino.

But when we look closer into the issue of building a casino, is there really no problems with building two casinos in Singapore? Well, sure, there might have been a lot of tourists and visitors at the casino on the opening day, but wouldn't it just go down hill afterwards, as the opening day was on Chinese New Year, so most of the tourists didn't come just to see the casino, but because they wanted to visit friends or relative and thought they might just go and see the over-hyped casino that was under construction in Singapore. After the Chinese New Year, they probably won't come to Singapore again just for the casino. Also, since the Casino was so over-hyped, there must have been a lot of tourists who came and visited just out curiosity. Since Singapore opened the casino early during the Chinese New Year holidays because of greed, the Casino was badly managed. People have been complaining on the internet on poor management and long queues. This makes the tourists who come here with extremely high expectation leave disappointed. Opening a casino will attract more tourists to Singapore? The reverse, more likely.

Also, the issue of creating more jobs. Of course a casino will create more jobs. But what about the people who get addicted? They lose their jobs, they lose their money. And in worst case scenarios, they may lose their lives and their families. Is it worth it? Just how many jobs can 2 casinos create? Compare it to the number of jobs people might lose if a casino opened. No, TWO casinos opened. Many more people may addicted and lose their jobs. Is it worth it? Okay, you might say that Singapore opened Problem Gambling Counselling Centres ( Not really sure what its called) especially for this. But how many people will really go there to get counselled? If you really are addicted, you wouldn't want to go and kick the habit. You like gambling. You want to gamble. Why would you voluntarily go and get yourself counselled? The Counselling Centres will probably have a very small impact on gambling addicts.

I strongly condemn the building of the casino, but since Singapore has already built it, I shall carry on my own silent protest - by not visiting it.