Singapore's Online Gambling Conundrum

With the construction nearing completion for Singapore's elaborate Marina Bay Sands casino resort, there are clearly big changes ahead with regards to land-based gambling in Singapore. But what about online gaming?

The population of Singapore is about 75 percent Chinese and it is well-known that gambling is highly popular among the Chinese. Yet Singapore is unable to make up its mind about online gambling?

Singapore is torn - it wants it - but it doesn't. The Marina Bay Sands may change everything once it is up and running. This will be no ordinary neighborhood casino. It will change Singapore dramatically. Visitors will fly in from all over just to experience the casino, just to be in an environment like this for a few days. Visitors will come to admire the 2009 architecture, to marvel at the stunning engineering, to gasp at the interior design and to drool over the gardens.

And they will gamble. They will take few spins on a slot machine, drop a chip on a roulette table, or roll a dice at a noisy craps game. Then they will go home with a small gambling bug deep inside and they will want to gamble again. The moment an online casino in their language and tasting of their own flavor opens, they will flock to play in it.  

The online casinos in Singapore will have an icon to beat - the Marina Bay Sands. They will have great graphics and sound and videos to make every player feel that he is inside the casino.

Will it be impossible for the Singaporean government to ignore the growing beast that is online gambling? Is a gambling law just around the corner? Only time will tell.