Singapore’s economy grew by 14.7 percent last year, probably the second highest rise after Qatar, the improvement of the economy is partly due to the two giant new casino resorts: Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.

The two major casino resorts in Singapore, cost more than 7.5 billion to build, and are the crown jewels of a decade-long effort to diversify the island economy. The country is now focusing on services such as tourism and finance, and tries to reduce the dependency on the manufacturing industry. The casinos have delivered more than 20,000 jobs, helped attract a record number of visitors and contributed to the 14.7 percent economic growth from last year. Singapore, which in recent decades lost many of its low-wage production to emerging regional economies such as China and Vietnam, focuses on the export of more value added products such as semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Production rose 28 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, while services rose 8.8 percent and construction fell to 1.2 percent, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

This year, the gambling resorts should contribute around 1.7 percent to the gross domestic product growth, which is expected to go slow but will still grow at a healthy 7 percent. The government predicts economic growth of between 4 percent and 6 percent for 2011 in Singapore. In an attempt to lure Chinese visitors, the casino gambling resorts incorporated Feng Shui principles and other Chinese beliefs into their casino design and operation. Resorts World opened its casino on February 14th at 08:28, while Marina Bay Sands opened on March 27 at 15:18 because eight is considered as a lucky number in Chinese culture, and luck is something useful in a casino. To discourage social problems like gambling addiction, the government has set up an entrance fee for the casinos for the local population of 50 pounds for a 24-hour visit or 1.000 pounds for one year. The government took more than 50 million pounds last year from casino entrance, suggesting that many Singaporeans do not bother to pay to enter the casino.