Marina Bay Sands 2023

I have always wanted to visit Singapore, the city-state known for their tough rules on crime always fascinated me. When I was working as a dealer at the Stratosphere I met a couple from Singapore and I asked if they had casinos in Singapore, and they told me only for the tourists.

This is not quite the case anymore.

Since this is not a travel site I will keep the flight details to a minimum, I will say if you ever have the opportunity to fly ANA’s “The Room” it is definitely worth the extra $$$. Some call it the worlds best business class. I got a great deal, maybe for shopping early since I bought the airplane tickets in September of 2022 for a trip in February 2023.

To enter the casino, I had to go through some type of security dedicated to foreigners where I had to show my Singapore Visit Pass plus my passport. There was also a separate entrance for permanent residents and citizens. The machine indicated they had to pay some kind of tariff to enter the casino.

What was nice is although smoking was allowed, I saw very little of it. I also noticed there was no bar in the casino, no drink service, and I also don’t think I saw any ATMs. There were self service drink machines and some carts stocked with coffee and juice with an attendant handing them out.
Photography was not allowed, I tried to take a photo of the casino floor at the entry and missed the big sign in front of me saying no photos allowed. The security quickly reprimanded me.

Unless I missed it, I did not see any video poker machines. I did see lots of slot machines and some video roulette machines.

In terms of the table games the cost to play was really expensive.

I noted these following limits on a Tuesday night around 10:30PM. I stopped by the casino after seeing the Frozen musical at the Marina Bay Sands Theatre. The show was performed by the Australian touring cast. I enjoyed the show, especially since the Marina Bay Sands theatre is a smaller more intimate space compared to the Reynolds Hall at the Smith Center where the show is playing in a few weeks.

The exchange rate was approximately 1USD=1.30 Singapore dollars.

I did not see any Pai Gow Tile tables.

I believe I saw a Pai Gow Poker table for $25 but it was full.

Baccarat: $200-$800,000

Sic Bo $25-$100,000- There were many tables and they were crowded, seemed especially popular with the Indian (India not Native American- although I guess this
should be obvious since is not the USA) players.

Roulette with 00 $5-2,000

Blackjack- The lowest limit I found was $25.

The BJ is a CSM where the dealer only takes one card. They stand on soft 17, don’t quite remember the rules on splitting aces/doubling.
I had wanted to stay at the Marina Bay Sands, but the rooms were crazy expensive. Sunday-Thursday the rooms were $500-$1,200 a night USD.

I ended up at a hotel in Little India, got a nice deal for a nice room, it was the One Farrer Hotel.

The shops at the Marina Bay Sands were the usual high end designer shops which I have no interest in spending the $$$$ for a name on a label. The most interesting store was the unique Apple Store. Supposedly it is the only globe shaped Apple store which is completely surrounded by water. I also did not quite understand why they had the Venetian style gondolas since the casino is not Venice themed.

Overall, I had a great time in Singapore. The subway stations seemed to never have a wait more than 5 minutes for a train, no graffiti in the stations, no homeless people/drugged out people on the sidewalks/stations like I am used to seeing in the USA.

Singapore is really tough on crime and they have a strict drug policy. On the landing into Singapore the airplane announced possession of any controlled substance, including cannabis, even medical is considered drug trafficking which is punishable by death. Not quite sure if they would execute someone for a lose gummy, probably would have to have a moderate amount.

With the limits being really high, kinda meh blackjack, no drink service, strict entry rules into the casino I would not see Singapore as a gambling destination, which maybe they don’t try to be. I also noted an elevator to Piaza (sp?) and could only imagine how high those minimums must be. Perhaps for a wealthy person who does not want to fly to Vegas it is worth it, but for the regular person it would not be an ideal gambling destination.

I was able to resize and upload these:






Probably the most unique Apple store I have seen.



A "Frozen" ice sculpture at Frozen. Seemed to be a good fit.


Me being the high roller I am, made a profit of $12.50 :)




Lots of signs around town with rules and what not.


Year of the rabbit. Lots of rabbit photos/statutes. Rabbits are one of my favorite animals so this was fun.

Good to hear from you! It’s probably over a decade since we had lunch! I’m glad you found a successful path in life, with obviously enough $$$ to travel to Singapore!

Looking forward to the pics.

Hi Nick. Welcome back! Thank you for the report and I look forward to some pictures.

Thanks, I got a really good deal on the airfare. Google Flights said it was $3,000-$4,000 less than usual. I booked the flight as LAX-SIN and did a separate flight LAS to LAX. I also went up to Taipei for four nights. That was a really neat place. Flight was LAS-LAX-HND-SIN, then SIN-TPE,, then TPE-SIN-HND-LAX-LAS.

I've always found it odd that with Pai Gow Tiles being such a distinctly Asian game, it's not very popular in a lot of casinos throughout Asia. I'm assuming it just has to do with it being really hard to deal, and probably not much of a revenue generator.

We stayed at the Marina Bay sands for a couple nights a few years back. The view is really nice, but that's really it. The place is so busy that it truly feels like you're staying at a busy mall rather than a nice hotel. I would not go back.

As to the casino, it was very underwhelming. Definitely not a destination, but rather something for you if you happen to be in Singapore for other reasons and feel like going gambling, then that's your option.

I posted some pictures to the original post. I had a great time in Singapore and Taipei, I would like to make it to Sydney this summer so I can have 6/7 continents stamped in my passport before it expires. I do agree with the above, not worth visiting as a gaming destination, but definitely worth visiting for a few days as a tourist for the history and what not.

Quote: NicksGamingStuff

I posted some pictures to the original post. I had a great time in Singapore and Taipei, I would like to make it to Sydney this summer so I can have 6/7 continents stamped in my passport before it expires. I do agree with the above, not worth visiting as a gaming destination, but definitely worth visiting for a few days as a tourist for the history and what not.
link to original post

I'm going to Singapore later this year.
Any playable games there? :)

Also, don't think there's an airport in Antarctica to stamp your passport.

Craps???