| "We want Singapore to have the
X-factor, that buzz that you get in London, Paris, or New York." That
is how Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minister,{{U}}
(1) {{/U}}his government's decision to{{U}} (2) {{/U}}gambling
in the country,{{U}} (3) {{/U}}two large, Vegas-style casinos.
Whether the casinos will indeed help to transform Singapore's staid image
remains to be seen. But the decision bas already{{U}} (4) {{/U}}an
uncharacteristic buzz among the country's normally{{U}} (5)
{{/U}}citizens. The government has contemplated, and rejected{{U}} (6) {{/U}}casinos several times in the past. One reason was{{U}} (7) {{/U}}Singapore's economic growth was so rapid that casinos seemed like an unnecessary evil. Buddhism and Islam, two of the country's main religions,{{U}} (8) {{/U}}on gambling. The government itself has traditionally had strong, and often{{U}} (9) {{/U}}, ideas about how its citizens should behave. Until recently, for example, it refused to{{U}} (10) {{/U}}homosexuals to the civil service. It also used to{{U}} (11) {{/U}}chewing gum, which it considers a public nuisance. Nowadays,{{U}} (12) {{/U}}, Singapore's electronics industry, the mainstay of the economy, is struggling to cope with cheap competition from places like China. In the first quarter of this year, output{{U}} (13) {{/U}}by 5.8% at an annual rate. So the government wants lo promote tourism and other services to{{U}} (14) {{/U}}for vanishing jobs in manufacturing. Merrill Lynch, an investment bank,{{U}} (15) {{/U}}the two proposed casinos could{{U}} (16) {{/U}}in as much as $4 billion in the initial investment alone.{{U}} (17) {{/U}}its estimates, they would have annual revenues of{{U}} (18) {{/U}}$3.6 billion, and pay at least $600 million in taxes and fees. The government, for its part, thinks the integrated{{U}} (19) {{/U}}, as it coyly calls the casinos, would{{U}} (20) {{/U}}as many as 35,000 jobs. |