Singapore: Our whales lose more than your whales!

Think you’re so big, Las Vegas? Well, Singapore just went all “In your face” on Sin City. One area tycoon recently blew $50 million at Marina Bay Sands and/or Resorts World Sentosa. Not to be outdone, a Singaporean zillionaire dropped a cool $100 million. Actually, since the transactions were reported from the shores of the Johore Strait, I strongly suspect we’re talking Singapore dollars here. But not chump change: The two whales would still have gambled away $38 million and $76 million, respectively.

Then there’s the chap, Henry Quek, who lost $26 million (US$20 million) at Resorts World, then tried to sue the casino. Resorts World owner Genting took an expansive view of the matter, writing the debt down to US$13 million. That’s quite a contrast with Harrah’s Entertainment going after Terrance K. Watanabe for the last $15 million of $127 million in casino losses (your tax dollars at work, folks). Then again, Genting isn’t so badly off that it’s having to sweat every last million, unlike Harrah’s.

If Tamares Group hasn’t gone through its $20 million (or more, according to casino boss Anthony Santo), it could always do a little bargain-shopping at Krave or what’s left of it. Imagine furnishing an entire casino-hotel from the cadavers of failed Strip enterprises. You’d have to be careful or you’d end up with something that looks like Lonnie Hammergren‘s back yard.

Here’s a completely back-asswards way to report a casino-revenue story: “without River City, revenue would have fallen 12 percent to $74.2 million.” Yes … if all the play cannibalized by Pinnacle Entertainment‘s property from other St. Louis-area casinos had simply stayed in people’s wallets. That’s the most gonzo “analysis” of gambling revenue I can recall reading in quite some time. This reporter obviously has  a great future with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, whose editors know as much about the casino industry as I do the dark side of the Moon.

Thank god! Management at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur decided to buck conventional wisdom and open a smoke-free slot room (as opposed to farcical “smoke-free corridors” and other such feel-good nonsense you see around Vegas). Not surprisingly, everything had to be either scrubbed free of cigarette detritus or removed outright but AZ Charlie’s reports that business is good. Many casino patrons don’t smoke, after all, and it’s rather patronizing to assume we either don’t care or simply can’t notice. Now, if only Arizona Charlie’s would clean up its Boulder Strip property — a real stinkpot — and cease its habit of providing free cigarettes to players-club members. It’s one thing to tolerate a carcinogenic habit, quite another to enable it.