Home Learning Day 5

THE OPENING OF TWO I.R.s IN SINGAPORE

Everyone should already have known that Singapore is currently building the two Integrated Resorts (I.R.s), Resorts World at Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands Resort & Casino, with the former slated to be open in early 2010.

The opening of these two I.Rs will bring a number of benefits to both Singaporeans and nearby countries alike. There will be a shopping paradise in the Marina Bay Sands Resort, a one hectare Sands SkyPark™, a casino and many more features not seen in Singapore. They have also offered over 1000 jobs for Singaporeans. In the Resorts World at Sentosa, there will be Universal Studios Singapore®, which most probably will attract both Singaporeans and tourists within an 8-hour flight range from Singapore, and of course a casino and hotels.

With so many benefits, why are people against the idea？

Well, with compulsive gambling already a social problem in Singapore, wouldn't the opening of TWO casinos make the situation worse?

Yes, the Government has started to crackdown on illegal moneylenders and have allowed families to prevent their kin from entering the casinos. Counselling centres have been set-up too.

But with all these measures in place, do you think that the problem of compulsive gambling can be curbed? I do not think so.

A psychologist, Paul Good, said that the people 20 years ago gambled to escape from their everyday lives, but now they are simple lured by the action. "A sense of excitement, of being on the edge, and you are literally holding your own fate in your own hands at a poker table."

Three women in treatment for compulsive gambling have also relapsed at least once.