Insight
COVID-19 UPDATE - ASIA Singapore
Even before the Circuit Breaker was implemented on April 7, there had already been a 43.3 per cent decrease year on year in tourist arrivals, and Chinese nationals not only form the largest source of Singapore’s tourist arrivals, but also the largest group of foreign visitors to the two casinos here.
66 year-old tourist from Wuhan, China was tested positive for Covid-19. It did not take long for the disease to spread here.
On January 29, Singapore imposed a travel ban on all arrivals from Hubei Province. Tis travel ban was subsequently extended to arrivals from Mainland China and other countries, and by March 23, all tourists were barred from entering Singapore.
Meanwhile, in March, European professional football leagues were suspended due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Europe. Tese are the very football leagues on whose matches bets are offered by Singapore Pools (as well as most other offshore online bookmakers). Te other sporting event on which bets are offered in Singapore is the Formula One motor race, and many races for the 2020 season (including the Singapore Race) were cancelled as a result of Covid-19.
P52 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
Later that month, the Ministry of Health ordered that all ticketed cultural, sports and entertainment events held in Singapore be deferred or cancelled, and all entertainment venues such as cinemas, casinos, jackpot rooms and pubs had to shut down. Tis led to the cancellation of all major sporting events in Singapore, including the horse racing and the local professional football league on which bets were offered by Singapore Pools.
Te start of April saw the emergence of huge clusters of infections coming from our foreign worker dormitories, which caused a sharp spike in daily infections to more than 1,000 a day, and they continue to form the bulk of new infections here. As a result, on April 7, the Circuit Breaker was imposed to significantly reduce movements and interactions in public and private places. All licensed gambling operations and local horse racing activities were suspended thereafter, including online betting operations.
Te Circuit Breaker was to last until June 2, when a partial lifting took place to allow for schools to re-open, and critical sectors and businesses that operate in lower transmission risk environments to resume.
On June 19, restrictions were further eased to allow for the re-opening of retail outlets, social and recreational clubs, sports facilities, personal health and wellness activities, dining in at restaurants and social gatherings in groups of five. Singapore Pools were allowed to resume online sports and overseas horse racing betting with effect from June 16, and lottery draws and retail outlet operations from June 22, while the
Singapore Turf Club will be allowed to resume horse racing behind closed doors from July 11 onwards.
Casinos have since July 1 been allowed to resume their operations, albeit at reduced 25 per cent capacity and limited to their respective rewards members and existing annual levy holders, and with safe distancing measures to be implemented such that the total number of people at any one time in the casino does not exceed one per 10 square metres of gross floor area. Public entertainment venues have now been allowed to reopen as well, subject to safeguards such as limits on patron numbers, safe distancing, temperature recording, controlled access, contact tracing and the mandatory wearing of face masks.
HOW HAVE GAMBLING OPERATORS IN SINGAPORE BEEN IMPACTED BY THESE CRITICAL EVENTS?
Even before the Circuit Breaker was implemented on April 7, there had already been a 43.3 per cent decrease year on year in tourist arrivals, and Chinese nationals not only form the largest source of Singapore’s tourist arrivals, but also the largest group of foreign visitors to the two casinos here.
On March 18, one and a half months after the ban on entry of Mainland Chinese tourists, Genting Singapore which operates Resorts World Sentosa and had experienced a significant decrease in visitor attendance and revenue across all its gaming and non-gaming facilities, announced that it had slashed the wages of its
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144
