Singapore casinos brace for battle as VIP volumes fall

The fight is starting to turn ugly.

Singapore's two glitzy casinos are fighting for a shrinking pool of high rolling players as China's corruption crackdown and economic slowdown reduce the number of VIPs at their tables, and the battle is starting to turn ugly.

According to Reuters, gaming mogul Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands runs the Marina Bay Sands resort, has accused rival Genting Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa of relying on overly generous incentives and credit to entice big money players.

"Maybe one day, they will get used to competing on the basis of a quality product, if they ever build one, and they won't have to buy the business," he said during his company's earnings call last month.

A Genting spokeswoman declined to comment on questions sent by Reuters, citing the company's quarterly results due on Tuesday, but President Tan Hee Teck had acknowledged the headwinds facing Singapore's casinos during its last earnings call in August.

"I suppose some operators may not want to admit it, but at least from our side, we believe that the situation will continue to be quite challenging at least for the next 6 to 12 months," Tan said.

Behind the spat is a fall in the number of the high rollers who have been crucial to the billions of dollars the two casinos have earned since opening in 2010, making up around 50 percent of their combined S$6 billion in annual gaming revenues.

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