Singapore has two casino licensees, and the Gambling Regulatory Authority prices the privilege in years. Renewals go through Section 49B of the Casino Control Act 2006 — the GRA’s notices cite Section 49 — on the matters listed in Section 45, and Regulation 5 of the 2009 licence-and-fees regulations makes a casino licence valid for three years or “such shorter term as the Authority may specify”. In November 2024 it specified shorter. What follows assesses both on the regulator’s criteria, for readers who price a Singapore casino licence rather than play under one.
The file
What the regulator is testing
Gaming revenue is not the headline criterion. Under Section 45 the GRA weighs, among other matters, the licensee’s ability to develop, maintain and promote its integrated resort as a compelling tourist destination meeting prevailing market demand and industry standards. For RWS it also took the independent opinion of an Evaluation Panel appointed by the Minister for Trade and Industry under Section 45A, plus the views of MTI, STB and Sentosa Development Corporation. The Panel judged tourism performance from 2021 to 2023 “unsatisfactory, with a number of areas that require rectification and substantial improvement”, and recommended the next evaluation for 2026, per the GRA’s announcement of 18 November 2024.
The MBS notice of 11 April 2025, on the same page, publishes no panel finding and records only that MBS fulfilled the Section 45 requirements — s 45(3) makes a panel opinion mandatory either way. That asymmetry is one of disclosed detail: one renewal published as a clean pass, the other as a shortfall.
The half-year scoreboard, in two currencies
Las Vegas Sands reports Marina Bay Sands in US dollars, Genting Singapore in Singapore dollars; we do not convert.
Per the Q2 exhibit LVS filed with the SEC on 22 July, MBS booked six-month net revenue of US$2,867m against US$2,551m. The second quarter was softer: net revenue US$1,380m against US$1,388m, adjusted property EBITDA US$689m against US$768m. Read the volume lines before calling that a demand problem: rolling chip volume rose to US$9,269m from US$8,945m, non-rolling chip drop to US$2,597m from US$2,360m. What moved was hold: a 4.74 percent rolling chip win against 5.26 percent, both above the 4.2 and 4.1 percent theoretical rates the filing states. The hold-adjustment table puts that benefit at US$37m this quarter against US$80m a year earlier: roughly US$43m of the US$79m decline is a good quarter lapping a better one.
Genting Singapore’s 1H2026 release of 13 August reports group revenue of S$1,203.6m, broadly stable: gaming revenue S$804.4m, down 4 percent, non-gaming S$398.8m, up 6 percent. Adjusted EBITDA fell 8 percent to S$389.8m and net profit was S$156.1m — down 34 percent, per industry press — which the company attributes to higher depreciation, lower interest income and refresh works. RWS alone reported second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of S$210.8m, up 12 percent year on year.
The mix the criteria reward
Non-gaming up while gaming falls reads badly in a GGR table and rather well in a Section 45 file. That is the RWS 2.0 argument, and the first tranche is spent, not announced: Singapore Oceanarium, the WEAVE retail district and The Laurus hotel are open, per the same release; Minion Land opened at Universal Studios Singapore in February 2025. Industry press puts the programme at about S$6.8bn, roughly S$1.8bn of it spent, with capex peaking in 2027 and 2028; the company says it is on track for 2030.
The calendar is the problem. Refresh works on Hotel Michael, Crockfords Tower and the dining venues are still being planned, with revitalised facilities arriving across 2027 and 2028 — after the February expiry. The licensee is asking to be assessed on a programme whose next tranche lands after the decision. The August release also names Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay as chairman and acting chief executive — and management is a Section 45 matter, s 45(2)(d) and (g) testing executive officers’ experience and suitability, though an acting title is not itself a finding.
The other clock
MBS is on the other clock. Three years from 26 April 2025 runs its licence to April 2028, so its own next renewal falls due before its expansion opens. The July filing records US$4.68bn still available under a delayed draw term loan facility for the expansion, and gives no opening date. Industry press put it at about US$8bn at its July 2025 groundbreaking, with opening targeted for 2031; it is a 2030s asset, and earns the test we applied to Japan’s first integrated resort at mid-construction: what is banked, what is still a schedule.
Both columns
Verdict
This scores a position, not the GRA’s decision; MBS’s licence runs to April 2028, its renewal application due by late 2027. What moves it up: a completed evaluation, or an earnings line that stops absorbing the refresh. What moves it down: another shortened term, or a 2030 slip. We track licence terms because they set the discount rate on every Singapore capex line our readers model: the business of gaming, for a trade readership.