Marina Bay Sands is one of two winning proposals for Singapore's first integrated resorts, the other being the
Resorts World Sentosa, which incorporates a family-friendly
Universal Studios Theme Park (
Universal Studios Singapore). The two large-scale resorts were conceived to meet Singapore's economic and tourism objectives for the next decade and will have 30-year casino licenses, exclusive for the first ten years. Bidders were assessed based on four criteria: tourism appeal and contribution, architectural concept and design, development investment, and strength of the consortium and partners. in the Skypark On 27 May 2006, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was declared the winner with its business-oriented resort. LVS submitted its winning bid on its own. Its original partner City Developments Limited (CDL), with a proposed 15% equity stake, pulled out of the partnership in the second phase of the tender process. CDL's CEO,
Kwek Leng Beng said his company's pullout was a combination of factors—such as difficulties in getting numerous companies he owns to comply in time, as well as reluctance of some parties to disclose certain private information in probity checks required by the
Singapore government. With the escalating costs of materials, such as sand and steel, and labour shortages owing to other major infrastructure and property development in the country,
Sheldon Adelson placed the total cost of the development at S$8.0 billion as of July 2009. Two months after the initial phased opening, the casino was attracting around 25,000 visitors daily, about a third being
Singaporeans and permanent residents who paid a $150 daily entry levy or $3,000 for annual unlimited access. Half a million gamblers passed through the casino in June 2010. In the third quarter of 2012, the revenues of the Marina Bay Sands fell almost 28 per cent from a year earlier. For the economy, Marina Bay Sands was projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to
Singapore's Gross Domestic Product by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and 20,000 jobs being created in other industries. In October 2024, Sands announced it would increase its investment to US$8 billion on its expansion, described as an entirely new development dubbed "Marina Bay Sands IR2". The development is slated to boast 570 luxury suites, 110,000 square feet of MICE space, its own SkyPark and high-end F&B, in addition to the 15,000-seat arena previously announced. As the development of Marina Bay Sands was perceived as critical in Singapore's urbanization efforts, a fixed price was set for the land. This was a departure from the government auctioning off the land to the highest bidder. Bidders were instead assessed holistically on factors such as the design of the Marina Bay Sands and the amenities it would offer.
Design and construction The resort is designed by
Moshe Safdie, who says it was initially inspired by card decks. In addition to the hotel and the casino, other buildings include a
ArtScience Museum,
Aedas were responsible for employing all consultants and for developing, co-ordinating and implementing the design. The structural engineering for the project was handled by
Arup with
Parsons Brinckerhoff the
MEP engineers. The main contractor was
Ssangyong Engineering and Construction. The three towers are broader at the base and narrow as they rise. Each tower has two asymmetric legs, with a curved eastern leg leaning against the other, creating a significant technical challenge in its construction. Substantial temporary structures were necessary to support the legs of the tower while they were under construction, and required real-time monitoring for continual assessment and analyses in the course of their erection. A distinctive feature of the hotel is Sands SkyPark, a 1.2-hectare tropical oasis that is longer than the Eiffel Tower and extends to form one of the world's longest public cantilevers. Built at the height of 200m, the structure offers 12,400sqm of space – big enough to fit three football fields. The structure bridges all three towers with a segment cantilevered off the north tower. The hull of the SkyPark was pre-fabricated off-site in 14 separate steel sections and then assembled on top of the towers. There are four movement joints beneath the main pools, designed to help them withstand the natural motion of the towers, and each joint has a unique range of motion. The total range of motion is . In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, so engineers built and installed custom jack legs to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system. This jacking system is important primarily to ensure the infinity edge of the pool continues to function properly. The Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) held the first conference at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre on 2–5 May 2010, but the event was marred by uncompleted facilities and power failure during a speech. IPBA withheld payment of S$300,000 and was consequently sued by Marina Bay Sands. Sands Theatre was completed in time for the first performance of the theatrical show
Riverdance on 30 November 2010. ArtScience Museum opened its doors to the public at 10 am on 19 February 2011. The musical
The Lion King made its debut on 3 March 2011. The floating pavilions were opened when the tenants Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club finished their refurbishment and opened on 18 September 2011, and 22 September 2011, respectively.
The Lion King ran its last show on 30 October 2011.
Expansion Marina Bay Sands is expanding their property with a new development set to be complete by 2031, at an estimated cost of S$10.3 billion (US$8 billion). Plans for the standalone fourth tower was earlier announced in 2019, and will feature 570 luxury suites, of MICE space, its own SkyPark, and a 15,000 capacity arena. In early 2025, Las Vegas Sands secured a S$12 billion (US$9 billion) loan to finance the expansion. The loan was said to be the biggest corporate loan in the history of Singapore. Las Vegas Sands broke ground on their expansion of Marina Bay Sands on 16 July 2025. Also in 2025, a renovation of all the hotel rooms in the existing structure was completed. ==Facilities==