Gambling Trust
>> Friday, November 18, 2011
I read with amusement the recent news about the lady, who has a vegetarian hawker stall in Geylang, denied of her jackpot winnings at Marina Bay Sands (MBS). Two things aroused my interest.
One, MBS as a renowned casino operator did not want to pay! In an industry based on gambling trust, that is going to severely affect their business. Excuses given of faulty machines only made matters worse. In my opinion, it raises further questions, when was it detected and why were the machines still allowed to operate? They are in fact cheating customers to place bets that may never win! In addition to paying the lady her rightful winnings, they should refund every single customer who placed bets during that period of "machine fault". It is no different from saying that if you lose, it is working correctly; if you win, something is wrong and we will not pay.
Two, the publicity has made her famous, but may be attracting the wrong attention. Now, unless you are living in a cave (if there are even caves in Singapore), everyone knows she has $400k extra to spare and know where to find her. I believe relatives and friends which has lost contact since eons ago suddenly remembers her, and would like to interest her in lending (aka giving) them money, investing, selling or simply have some luck (aka "benefit") to rub off on them. I suppose that is why she is declaring that she will be donating her winnings.
Firstly, this is very similar to all investments, trust is of paramount importance. The investment platform and structure needs to be robust and regulated. Hence, do not jump into investments that do not establish such trust. Such as unregulated land banking, doggy overseas properties, mysterious gold, etc. There is sufficient amount of good quality products available to invest in for all risk profiles and portfolio construction.
Secondly, that is why, the truly successful remain humble and do not wish to attract unnecessary attention.
I have yet to step into either of the Singapore casinos to give lady luck a shot, but I guess my choice of which to go is clear.
8 comments:
Interesting!
If I were the PR manager of MBS, I would have turned it to a great PR event to entice more people to "invest" at my Integrated Resort.
I would organise a press conference and hand-over the big 400 thousand cheque to her like how they do in tennis matches. Lots fo photo clicks clicks and interviews! Milk it as long as possible! Turn a "loss" to MBS into a positive!
Tell the world that if the lady hawker can do it, so can you!
Hey! That looks surprisingly similar to the testimonial feedback and pictures used by those doddgy "investments" peddlers you mentioned. LOL!
Smol, looks like mbs has a lot to learn in terms of marketing from these "investment guru"s.
Hi,
"I would organise a press conference and hand-over the big 400 thousand cheque to her like how they do in tennis matches. Lots fo photo clicks clicks and interviews! Milk it as long as possible! Turn a "loss" to MBS into a positive!"
Our Papaya has stopped the Casinos to do this type of promotion, which they used to. The reason is obvious. High moral ground. We(Papaya) do not want to promote gambling. We have the casinos but it's you who wants to go there. We even impose $100/24hr entry fee to help discourage you to go there. So it's entirely yourself to be blamed if you still wants to go there.
Ha! Ha! It's really a joke to me.
Why have the casino in the first place?
Actually I think MBS has a strong case for not giving out the jackpot but probably did so anyway to avoid creating the impression that they were a cheat or a bully.
I have been to MBS and I can't remember a single jackpot machine that pays a jackpot of 400+ thousand. So it was entirely possible that it was indeed a machine fault which would void the payment.
In other words, I think MBS was 'bullied' into paying a non-existent jackpot. Of cos it hard to be sympathetic towards a giant who earns half billion in profit in 3 months.
Temperament, I feel that some Singaporeans love to gamble. So rather than losing this lucrative market to gentling or Macau. Make them spend locally n attract gamblers from afar as well.
Paul, no doubt it could b a technical bug. But that is the whole point. Why wasn't the fault highlighted promptly n gaming stopped to accept bets. Would things b the same if a fault paying less occured n MBS top up the winnings?
i am saying it's a joke Singaporeans have to pay $100/24hrs/entry. This is a case of either or, neither nor. It's should be $1000/24hrs/entry or no Casino. For $100/24/entry, Ah TER, AH KOW & AH HUEY will find the entrance fee still not painful enough as a deterrence to gamble. And these people forms the main population(the working class of Singapore)
i doubt MBS & RWS will want to come to Singapore if it's $1000/24hr/entry. Ha! Ha!
HIGH MORAL GROUND IS THE ONLY REASON i can think of and nothing else.
Seems like everything can be twisted into favorable condition for the big boys. A large casino also can push the blame to a faulty machine and refuse to pay up. What happens to those people who lost to the faulty machine? Get a refund?
Temperament, actually $100 is painful enough for me. I have not been into either casino yet.
Trade futures, exactly the point. People win say machine spoil. People lose the machine is ok. Who want to gamble there like that.
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