Singapore gambler ordered to pay up 4.4-million-dollar Vegas debt

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 Singapore court set a new precedent as previously gambling debts incurred in non Commonwealth countries could not be recovered in Singapore when it ordered Poh Soon Kit on Tuesday to abide by a 1999 US court ruling and cough up the cash pay his debt after gambling away millions at Las Vegas casino Caesars Palace, over a six-year period that began in 1992. The Singapore businessman lost 4.4 million Singapore dollars in Las Vegas and then left the US with unpaid debts. Poh has filed an appeal against the judgment.

The ruling puts local gamblers on notice that that they can be sued for gambling debts anywhere in the world which also implicates Singapore's two soon-to-be opened casinos in the future to recover debt incurred by foreigners after this precedent.

Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Venetian Casino Resort in Las Vegas teamed up with companies controlled by the government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings scheduled open the first of the two casinos by 2009. VIA The second license for the casino (Sentosa casino resort) projects has been awarded to Genting International with teammate Star Cruises, scheduled to open in 2010 on a site of 49 hectares, or 121 acres, on Sentosa Island. It in 2005 that Singapore lifted a 40-year ban on casinos as part of an effort to bolster tourism (in an attempt to double visitor arrivals to 17 million by 2015.) as more manufacturing jobs shift to countries with lower labor costs. To ensure that gambling at the casinos is no cheaper than the overseas alternatives Singaporeans already have, the government will require that locals pay either a daily entrance fee of 100 Singapore dollars ($63) or an annual fee of 2,000 Singapore dollars ($1,265).

The Marina Bay Sands is a SGD6 billion project awared to the Las Vegas Sands Corp. Picture 1:Artist rendtion of the Marina Bay Sands with the skyscrapers of Singapore.on April 6th 2006 to build a 6 million sq. ft. integrated resort. The Sands will contain business and convention facilities, hotel guest rooms and a casino. VIA

Picture 2:The casino resort on Sentosa, Singapore, by Malaysia's Genting International and Star Cruises A venture worth 5.2 billion Singapore dollars is intended to lure thousands of visitors with a Universal Studios theme park and a huge outdoor marine park. VIA

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