Marina Bay Sands (often colloquially shortened to 'MBS') is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore and a landmark of the city. At its opening in 2010, it was deemed the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion (US$6.88 billion). The resort includes a 1,850-room hotel, a meetings and conventions facility at Sands Expo & Convention Centre, a 74,000-square-metre (800,000 sq ft) luxury shopping mall, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, an ArtScience museum, a 2,183-capacity theatre, the world's first floating Apple store, the world's first Louis Vuitton Island Maison, celebrity chef and signature restaurants, and a casino with 500 tables and 3,000 electronic gaming machines. The complex includes three towers topped by the Sands Skypark, a skyway connecting the towers with a capacity of 3,902 people and a infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by . The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie. The main contractor was Ssangyong Engineering and Construction.
The resort is owned by Las Vegas Sands in agreement with the Singaporean authorities. Marina Bay Sands was originally set to open in 2009, but its construction faced delays caused by escalating costs of material and labour shortages from the outset exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis. This pressured Las Vegas Sands to delay its projects elsewhere to complete the integrated resort. Its owner decided to open the integrated resort in stages, and it was approved by the Singapore authorities. The resort and SkyPark were officially opened on 23 and 24 June 2010 as part of a two-day celebration, following the casino's opening on 27 April that year."Uproar over Marina Bay Sands conference woes". Straits Times, 6 May 2010, page A1. The SkyPark opened the following day. The theatre was completed in time for the first performance of Riverdance on 30 November. The indoor skating rink, which uses artificial ice, opened to a performance by Michelle Kwan on 18 December. The ArtScience Museum opened to the public and the debut of a 13-minute light, laser and water show called Wonder Full on 19 February 2011, marked the full completion of the integrated resort.
The opening of Marina Bay Sands was held on 17 February 2011. It also marked the opening of the seven celebrity chef restaurants. The last portion of the Marina Bay Sands, the floating pavilions, were finally opened to the public when the two tenants, Louis Vuitton and Pangaea Club, opened on 18 and 22 September 2011, respectively. The property is currently being expanded to include a fourth hotel tower, an arena and additional convention space.
Background
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.
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. However, Kwek was retained as an advisor for Sands' bid.
Investment Las Vegas Sands initially committed to invest S$3.85 billion in the project, not including the fixed S$1.2 billion cost of the site itself. 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.
Las Vegas Sands declared the undertaking as "one of the world's most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built". It expected the casino to generate at least $1 billion in annual profit. 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.
On 3 April 2019, Sands announced a $3.3 billion expansion of its Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore. The expansion will include the construction of a fourth hotel tower containing 1,000 luxury suites and a 15,000-seat arena.
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. The prominent feature of the design is the three hotel towers, which have 1,850 rooms and suites, and a continuous lobby at the base linking the three towers. The casino has a four-storey central atrium with four levels of gaming and entertainment in one space. In addition to the hotel and the casino, other buildings include a ArtScience Museum, and Sands Expo & Convention Centre with of space, capable of accommodating up to 45,000 people. The resort's architecture and major design changes along the way were also approved by its feng shui consultants, the late Chong Swan Lek and Louisa Ong-Lee. 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.
Opening
Marina Bay Sands was originally planned to be completed in a single phase in 2009, but rising construction costs and the 2008 financial crisis forced the company to open it in phases. The first phase's soft opening was further delayed until 27 April 2010, and the official opening was pushed back to 23 June 2010. The rest of the complex remained under construction and was opened after a grand opening on 17 February 2011.
On 27 April 2010, Marina Bay Sands had the first of a planned 3 to 4 phase openings. The casino, parts of the conference hall, a segment of the Shoppes, 963 hotel rooms and the event plaza were opened at the auspicious time of 3:18 p.m as part of the "preview opening".
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. In June IPBA counter-sued, describing the venue as a "complete disaster" and that its earlier payments had been imposed by "duress, fear and force". An "amicable settlement" with undisclosed terms was announced in August.
On 23 June 2010, the resort had its official opening with a "2-day celebration"; this included the Sands SkyPark, the Event Plaza along Marina Bay, more shops, additional dining options and nightlife offerings, and the rest of the hotel rooms. First day events included a "World Championship Climb" on the glass facade of the building to the SkyPark, with seven teams of 21 top rock climbers from around the world competing, and an evening concert for 4,000 invited guests and customers, featuring Kelly Rowland and Sylvia Ratonel. The SkyPark was opened on the second day at 2 p.m., with about 2,000 adult tickets costing S$20 each sold.
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
Marina Bay Sands has three 55-storey hotel towers which were topped out in July 2009. The three towers are connected by a 1.2 hectare rooftop cantilever, Sands SkyPark . The Skypark observation deck provides panoramic views across the bay.