Casino-related crime rising warn analysts

Asia’s most livable city’s 684 per 100,000 per-capita crime rate may surge with casino openings.

Singapore’s casinos have attracted more than 3 million visitors, have created thousands of jobs and have spurred spending at hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. But they are also keeping the courts busy.

Since the opening of Resorts World Sentosa in February and Marina Bay Sands in April, the island-state has seen cases of fraud, embezzlement and identity theft. Some offenders were fined or sent to prison, three European suspects have jumped bail and two Africans have been charged for cheating the casinos out of about S$140,000 ($102,000).

Named Asia’s most livable city in a Mercer Consulting survey last month, Singapore dropped its 45-year ban on casinos to help double tourism revenue by 2015 and shed what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called an “unexciting” image. One of the world’s safest countries according to the U.S. Overseas Security Advisory Council, Singapore has prepared for a potential increase in loan sharking, pimping and fraud.

“Casinos mean money, money means temptation and temptation means there’s bound to be some sort of crime,” said Song Seng- Wun, an economist at CIMB Research Pte in Singapore. “Is it worth it in terms of its impact and contribution to the Singapore economy? Definitely.”

View the full story in Bloomberg.