We’ve got some takeaways from Singapore. The good: busy and decent table win, the less good: expensive busing may be playing a role.
Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has been open for more than a month. The initial read we got from our consultant this weekend was positive with a caveat. Mass revenue per table per day looks good at between US$3,600 and US$5,300, which compares favorably to the Mass average in Macau at US$3,600. While this should not be too surprising since RWS is operating a monopoly, a busy casino cannot be considered a bad thing. The only thing tempering that enthusiasm is that we are hearing that the property is operating an aggressive busing from Malaysia – no doubt impacting its Highlands property - which is expensive and highly promotional.
Here are some observations:
RWS Details:
- Opened 2/14/10
- 380 Mass tables, 120 VIP tables, 1,100 slots (only 850 appear operational)
- Budget of US$5bn, up from US$3.4bn
- Locals have to pay entry fee of S$100 per day or S$2,000 per annum
- Foreigners pay no fee
Customer Base:
- Visitor traffic predominately Malaysian
- Tapping into current Highlands customer base in Malaysia
- Aggressive and expensive busing from Malaysia
- Local play builds beginning late afternoon
Operations:
- Roulette (20% of Mass floor) much bigger than Las Vegas or Macau
- Baccarat only 23% of Mass floor
- Slots more popular than Macau
- Peak time for Mass floor is late afternoon
- Only 250 of the 380 Mass tables are open at peak – lack of staff may be the problem
- Due to inexperience, game speeds are very slow
- Minimum bets are averaging around S$50
- Win per Mass table estimated to be S$5,000-7,500 per day
