Beyond the casino floor: How integrated resorts drive growth

From the UAE and Thailand to Sri Lanka and the Caribbean, governments are increasingly embracing integrated resorts (IRs) as instruments of economic development rather than simply destinations for gaming. Once viewed primarily through the lens of casino revenues, modern integrated resorts are now being promoted as catalysts for tourism diversification, foreign direct investment, infrastructure expansion and employment generation.

Much of the discussion around integrated resorts centres on their potential to support tourism, attract investment and contribute to wider economic development. Yet as more jurisdictions place their bets on integrated resorts, a key question remains: can regulated gaming genuinely drive long-term economic transformation, or does it risk creating a new form of dependency centred on casino revenues?

From casino destinations to economic ecosystems

The difference between a successful integrated resort and a fleeting tourism boom depends on how well the development is integrated into the broader economy. Speaking exclusively to SiGMA News, Dr. Dharshana Weerakoon, a global tourism and hospitality strategist, argues that the most important differentiator is structural integration.

“The line separating an Integrated Resort (IR) that serves as a genuine macroeconomic catalyst from one that merely operates as a transient cash cow comes down to structural integration,” he says. “When an IR operates as an isolated enclave, it creates a superficial economic spike that often masks long-term structural vulnerabilities.”

According to Dr. Weerakoon, many emerging destinations fall into the trap of creating self-contained developments dominated by gaming floors and immediate visitor spending. While these projects may generate impressive revenue figures, much of the economic value can leak out through foreign ownership structures, imported luxury supply chains and expatriate management.

In contrast, development-focused integrated resorts function as “multi-dimensional economic ecosystems” designed to diversify a country’s economic base. They support business tourism, strengthen domestic supply chains and facilitate knowledge transfer to local workforces.

One of the most important elements, he argues, is prioritising meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) infrastructure alongside gaming operations.

“By shifting the primary target demographic from casual gamblers to corporate decision-makers, trade delegations, and multinational entities, the IR anchors the destination as a global commercial hub,” he explains.

Why governments are betting on integrated resorts

The economic appeal of integrated resorts lies in their ability to combine gaming with hotels, entertainment venues, convention facilities and other tourism infrastructure within a single development. Supporters of the model argue that gaming revenues can help fund these broader attractions and amenities.

Dr. Weerakoon describes casino operations as the “financial anchor tenant” of the wider development.

“The exceptionally high profit margins of the casino floor serve as a financial anchor tenant. These gaming margins effectively subsidise the high-cost, non-earning components of the resort such as sprawling public plazas, high-capacity convention centres, performing arts theatres and civic transport links that would otherwise be financially unviable,” he says.

This logic underpins integrated resort policy in many jurisdictions. In his doctoral thesis Integrated Resorts: Singapore’s Answer to Destination Competitiveness?, Lee D.C.H. (2016) notes that Singapore introduced integrated resorts not simply to legalise casinos, but to strengthen the city-state’s tourism competitiveness and attract new visitor segments through large-scale entertainment, convention and leisure infrastructure.

Similarly, Leu and Ko’s 2012 study, A Policy Innovation for Social and Economic Development: The Case of Integrated Resorts in Singapore, argues that integrated resorts were conceived as tools for employment creation, tourism expansion and broader economic development rather than standalone gambling ventures.

The concept has since spread far beyond Singapore. The UAE’s emerging gaming framework, Thailand’s proposed entertainment complexes and Sri Lanka’s integrated resort ambitions all reflect a growing belief that regulated gaming can serve as a catalyst for wider economic activity.

The Singapore model and the Macau lesson

Singapore and Macau have followed different paths in developing integrated resort industries, offering important lessons for emerging markets. According to Dr. Weerakoon, Macau achieved rapid capital accumulation and established itself as a major gaming destination. However, he argues that its heavy reliance on a single market segment, particularly high-roller VIP gaming, left the economy vulnerable to external policy shifts, currency controls and geopolitical changes.

According to Dr. Weerakoon, Macau’s overreliance on VIP gaming and the junket system left it exposed to external policy shifts, currency controls and geopolitical changes.

“The Perils of Economic Monoculture” is how he describes the experience, noting that the territory was ultimately forced into a difficult and reactive diversification effort when its traditional business model came under pressure.

Recent academic research reinforces this concern. In Targeted Tax Incentives for Diversification and Resilience in Macau’s Gaming Economy: A Greater Bay Area Study (2025), Chun Cheong Fong found that gaming contributes more than 70 per cent of Macau’s government revenue and around half of its GDP. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the risks of such concentration when Macau’s economy contracted sharply following travel restrictions and reduced visitor flows.

The same study concluded that diversification reduces economic volatility and strengthens resilience, particularly when governments encourage growth in sectors such as MICE, cultural tourism and technology.

Singapore followed a different path.

Dr. Weerakoon describes Singapore as the “gold standard” of the integrated resort model because it successfully combined gaming with convention facilities, luxury retail, tourism attractions and strong social safeguards.

The city-state’s success, however, did not happen by accident.

“Singapore’s success relies on an incredibly sophisticated, highly agile regulatory apparatus,” he says, warning that emerging markets cannot simply replicate the model without first developing the necessary institutional capacity.

The diversification imperative

The argument for diversification is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. In their 2025 study, Beyond the Tables: Measuring the Impact of Non-Gaming Diversification on Casino Profitability in Macau, Luo and Song found that a higher share of non-gaming business improves profitability indicators, including net profit margins and return on assets.

Their research suggests that integrated resorts generate stronger and more sustainable performance when revenues are spread across hotels, retail, entertainment, conventions and food and beverage operations rather than relying predominantly on casino gaming.

Taken together, the research suggests that diversified revenue streams can enhance resort performance while reducing reliance on gaming as the primary driver of growth.

For Dr. Weerakoon, that means embedding local businesses into the resort ecosystem. “A transformative IR does not import its luxury ecosystem wholesale,” he says. Instead, it should source architectural, agricultural, technological and creative services from domestic suppliers, creating opportunities for local small and medium-sized enterprises to improve standards, gain international certifications and expand their capabilities.

The same principle applies to employment. Sustainable integrated resorts, he argues, should focus on developing advanced skills rather than creating low-value service roles.

By investing in training programmes covering data analytics, regulatory compliance, specialised culinary expertise and large-scale asset management, integrated resorts can contribute to long-term human capital development.

Regulation remains the decisive factor

Integrated resorts have the potential to boost investment, tourism and employment, but their success is far from guaranteed. Dr. Weerakoon believes robust regulation is essential to ensuring those benefits are sustained over the long term.

“A transparent, fiercely independent regulatory body is an absolute prerequisite,” he says. Such institutions must possess sophisticated anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and forensic accounting capabilities to protect a jurisdiction’s reputation and maintain investor confidence.

He also advocates performance-based taxation frameworks that reward operators for reinvesting profits into non-gaming infrastructure, urban regeneration projects and community development programmes rather than relying solely on fixed gaming taxes.

Another critical factor is physical integration. “The physical asset must never be allowed to operate as a gated compound that cuts off the local population,” he says. Instead, resorts should be woven into wider urban planning frameworks so that visitor spending and economic activity flow into surrounding communities.

Emerging markets face a critical test

For newer entrants such as Sri Lanka, Thailand and the UAE, the challenge is not whether integrated resorts can attract investment. The challenge is whether they can avoid the mistakes of the past.

Dr. Weerakoon cites the UAE’s establishment of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA) as an example of governance structures being introduced alongside integrated resort development. He describes the country’s approach as positioning gaming within a broader framework that includes luxury tourism, global logistics and international finance.

For developing markets, he believes the timing of governance is crucial.

“Robust social safeguards including strict local entry criteria, entry levies for citizens, comprehensive self-exclusion registries, and clear anti-money laundering protocols must be fully designed, legislated, and funded before any operator breaks ground.”

The lesson from established jurisdictions is clear. Regulation cannot follow development. It must precede it.

Beyond gaming-led growth

Critics of integrated resorts often warn that governments risk becoming dependent on gaming revenues in much the same way resource-rich nations can become dependent on commodities.

Dr. Weerakoon believes that risk is real, but manageable. To avoid dependence, he argues that governments must stop viewing integrated resorts as economic destinations and instead see them as accelerators of broader development objectives.

“Gaming tax revenues should never be used to fund everyday government recurrent expenditures or patch up short-term fiscal deficits,” he says. Instead, these revenues should be channelled into sovereign wealth funds, healthcare infrastructure, digital transformation projects and long-term resilience initiatives.

He also stresses the importance of ensuring that integrated resorts complement rather than cannibalise local businesses.

By connecting resorts with cultural attractions, eco-tourism projects and domestic enterprises through transport links and shared marketing initiatives, governments can ensure that benefits are distributed across the wider economy rather than concentrated within a single development.

Ultimately, the future of integrated resorts may depend less on the casino floor itself and more on what governments choose to build around it.

As jurisdictions across Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean continue to embrace the model, the evidence increasingly suggests that gaming alone is not enough. The most successful integrated resorts are those that convert casino revenues into diversified economic ecosystems, resilient institutions and long-term national development.

The challenge for policymakers, Dr. Weerakoon suggests, is ensuring that gaming revenues contribute to long-term national development. When that happens, countries have the opportunity to transform “immediate tourism surges into enduring, cross-generational wealth”.

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