Singapore’s two casino resorts will contribute about $2 billion to gross domestic product this year, providing a 0.7 percentage-point boost to growth, according to DBS Group Holdings.

Genting Singapore Plc’s US$4.7 billion ($6.37 billion) Resorts World Sentosa and the US$5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands, owned by billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp., added about $470 million to GDP in the first half, economist Irvin Seah said in a report today. The “small” first-half contributions came even as Resorts World and Marina Bay Sands, which opened in January and April respectively, weren’t fully operational, he said.

 

“If the revenue flows of the two integrated-resorts continue to rise on the back of a healthy stream of tourists, we can expect more significant contributions going forward,” Seah said. “The overall economic gains to the economy are likely to be significantly larger if the spinoffs to other industries are taken into account.”

 

Singapore’s economy is forecast by the government to grow as much as 15% in 2010. Seah said he derived the casinos’ contributions to the economy from GDP data released by the government.