A casino a mere 50-minute ferry ride from Singapore may still become a reality. Two months after Bintan officials said that plans to build a casino have been scrapped, island regent Ansar Ahmad said otherwise. The proposal, from Malaysian developer Landmarks last October, was submitted to the Jakarta government for approval early this year. If approved, the casino will be the first to host legalised gaming in Indonesia.

Petaling Jaya: Fresh doubts have emerged over Landmarks Bhd’s plans to build Indonesia’s first legalised casino in Bintan, the largest island in the Riau archipelago just south of Singapore. The question remains on whether the Indonesian authorities would allow gaming activities to be part of a huge tourism development project on the island. Landmarks, backed by Asia’s biggest gaming company Genting Bhd, has announced plans to build resorts, condominiums and villas in Bintan over eight years at a cost of USD 2bil (RM4.5bil).

Malaysia's Landmarks Bhd., backed by Asia's largest gambling company, hopes to build Indonesia's first legalized casinos in a USD 3.1 billion resort project to compete with Las Vegas Sands Corp. in Singapore. The "objective is to develop a new destination for Indonesia," Chief Operating Officer Lim Boon Soon said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. The gaming element "will accelerate the whole integrated development in Bintan," an island in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population.