Marina Bay Sands

TL;DR

• Opened April 2010; designed by Moshe Safdie; the SkyPark spans the three tower tops at 200 metres above ground
• Approximately 600 table games across four gaming levels; Singaporean residents and permanent residents pay a SGD$150 entry levy per visit (or SGD$3,000 annually)
• Punto Banco and Mega Baccarat available; no membership required for tourists; minimum age 21

Annabel's take

Marina Bay Sands opened in April 2010, designed by Moshe Safdie, and the building is genuinely one of the few pieces of contemporary architecture that justifies its own cost of construction in experiential terms. The three towers connected by a ship-shaped SkyPark at 200 metres is not a rational piece of casino design; it's a monument that happens to contain a casino, a convention centre, an ArtScience Museum, two theatre auditoria, and a hotel with 2,561 rooms. The casino is on the lower floors. The SkyPark is somewhere above the clouds of humidity coming off Marina Bay.

I watched a Mega Baccarat hand at Marina Bay Sands, which is one of the experiences you can only have there. Mega Baccarat is a format where multiple players wager on a single hand from a shared shoe; it's a spectator event as much as a gambling format. The table gets crowded, the road maps are consulted by what feels like a committee, and the reveal of the third card produces a collective response that you don't normally associate with casino gaming in Singapore, which tends toward the methodical.

The casino floor spans four levels according to Marina Bay Sands's own casino page: approximately 600 table games and 3,000 electronic gaming machines. The exclusive games and high-limit salons sit on the upper level; the mass floor is below. Baccarat is one of the central games; Singapore's population of serious baccarat players is significant, as is the mainland Chinese visitor segment.

Singapore residents and permanent residents are subject to a casino entry levy of SGD$150 per entry or SGD$3,000 annually, established under Singapore's Casino Control Act. This doesn't apply to tourists. The age minimum is 21 for everyone.

What you'll find at the baccarat tables

Marina Bay Sands runs Punto Banco across the main casino floor. No Commission Baccarat is also available at certain tables; the edge on Banker in No Commission format is 1.46% (compared to 1.06% in standard Punto Banco) because the commission-free advantage is offset by the pushed Banker 6 hand.

Mega Baccarat is MBS's distinctive variant: published by Marina Bay Sands on their own rules materials, it allows multiple players to stake on a single hand dealt from a shared shoe. The experience differs from standard baccarat in that the social element of the decision-making around whether to accept or draw a third card, if the player position has the relevant option, becomes collective.

Table minimums on the mass floor are not published openly but are understood to be comparable to other Singapore and regional mass-floor levels. Confirm at the cage before sitting.

Getting in

Marina Bay Sands is open 24 hours. No membership required for non-residents. Tourists must present a valid passport or travel document at entry. Singaporean and permanent resident guests pay SGD$150 for a single visit or SGD$3,000 for annual access under the Casino Control Act (Singapore). Minimum age 21 strictly enforced. The address is 10 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956. Bayfront MRT station (Circle and Downtown lines) connects directly to the complex. Taxis and buses serve the address from across Singapore.

The neighbourhood

Marina Bay Sands is on the eastern fringe of the Central Business District, fronting Marina Bay. The Gardens by the Bay are immediately adjacent, with the Supertree Grove and Cloud Forest conservatory accessible from within a five-minute walk. The ArtScience Museum is at the base of the hotel complex. The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is an extensive retail promenade with a gondola canal running through it.

For serious late-night eating, Chinatown is fifteen minutes by MRT (Outram Park, then east on foot); the Maxwell Food Centre is twenty minutes by taxi. For in-resort dining, MBS runs a range of celebrity-chef restaurants that keep kitchen hours compatible with the casino floor.

Sources

Sources: Marina Bay Sands casino page, Safdie Architects: Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Marina Bay Sands main site.