Several firms are turning down IR jobs because gambling goes against their business ethics
By Mavis Toh
DEAL or no deal when it comes to the integrated resort (IR) buzz?
Even as many firms here look forward to the upcoming IRs and Lady Luck’s spinoffs, a few are saying ‘No thanks’ to the job offers and projects that they bring.
The reason? Their business ethics dictate that they should not be associated with gambling.
Equus Design Consultants, for instance, turned down a $30,000 project from one of Singapore’s largest property developers. It had been asked to design the marketing material for their IR bid.
Mr Andrew Thomas, 52, a partner in the firm, said the deal was rejected after some thought.
‘The project’s focus was on gambling. It didn’t flow with our company’s code of ethics,’ he said.
Business adviser Peter Zheng also said ‘no deal’.
The former head of group corporate communications with a bank said he had been asked by one of the casino operators to helm its local communications team.
Mr Zheng, 52, a devout Christian, said: ‘Gambling is a vice and I do not believe it’s right for me to be involved in something that will lead to the erosion of family values and to the destruction of lives.’
In 2005, the Government reversed its decades-old ban on casino gambling to boost tourism numbers.
Last year, casino licences were awarded to Las Vegas Sands to build a resort in Marina Bay and to Genting International to build another on Sentosa island. Their casinos, which will be part of the IRs, will open their doors next year.
One security firm has no plans to bid for plum IR projects.
Aexis Security Management’s managing director Tay Eng Hock, 47, said: ‘If there is a tender for security at the casinos, we won’t be going for it.’
He added: ‘Casinos are against my personal conviction and doesn’t go with my company’s code of ethics.’
As for Equus, it had previously also turned down deals related to the sale of military equipment, embryonic stem cell testing and tobacco products.
The 14-year-old firm, which has won awards with its designs for brochures and annual reports in New York, Hong Kong and Australia, declines about two deals a year and reckons that it has lost about $100,000 in projects.
But Equus’ Mr Thomas, a British expatriate who started the company with three others, said that what was ‘priceless’ was its ‘reputation for being an honest company with integrity’.
In July last year, the firm had refused a $50,000 offer to market and brand a karaoke lounge.
‘We found out that it was in a ‘flesh for sale’ business and had shady dealings,’ he said.
Still, rejecting the recent casino-related work was not easy.
‘The property conglomerate was a long-time client, so it was tricky,’ Mr Thomas said. ‘Eventually we apologised and said we couldn’t because of our code of ethics.’
Mr Zheng, who had also turned down jobs from a tobacco and liquor company, has not always found it easy to say ‘no’, too.
‘It’s tough to turn away from these material benefits and success,’ he said. ‘But I have to stand by my beliefs.’
One firm, however, is looking forward to working with Genting’s casino when it opens here.
Mr Simon Faure-Field, 37, director of Equal Strategy, said that his company, which deals with multi-sensory marketing, was hired two months ago to remove the smell of tobacco from Genting’s casino in Malaysia.
‘Sometimes, people really blow this moral issue out of proportion,’ he said.
Mr Danny Chaplin, 42, the managing director of Chaplin Public Relations, agrees.
‘I find laughable this pretension towards ‘ethics’ in the world of global commerce,’ he said. ‘I say ethics are a load of hogwash.’
He has no qualms working with casinos, arms manufacturers and tobacco companies because he believes that it is ‘survival of the fittest’ in the business world.
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Work on gambling related projects? No thanks
Several firms are turning down IR jobs because gambling goes against their business ethics
By Mavis Toh
DEAL or no deal when it comes to the integrated resort (IR) buzz?
Even as many firms here look forward to the upcoming IRs and Lady Luck’s spinoffs, a few are saying ‘No thanks’ to the job offers and projects that they bring.
The reason? Their business ethics dictate that they should not be associated with gambling.
Equus Design Consultants, for instance, turned down a $30,000 project from one of Singapore’s largest property developers. It had been asked to design the marketing material for their IR bid.
Mr Andrew Thomas, 52, a partner in the firm, said the deal was rejected after some thought.
‘The project’s focus was on gambling. It didn’t flow with our company’s code of ethics,’ he said.
Business adviser Peter Zheng also said ‘no deal’.
The former head of group corporate communications with a bank said he had been asked by one of the casino operators to helm its local communications team.
Mr Zheng, 52, a devout Christian, said: ‘Gambling is a vice and I do not believe it’s right for me to be involved in something that will lead to the erosion of family values and to the destruction of lives.’
In 2005, the Government reversed its decades-old ban on casino gambling to boost tourism numbers.
Last year, casino licences were awarded to Las Vegas Sands to build a resort in Marina Bay and to Genting International to build another on Sentosa island. Their casinos, which will be part of the IRs, will open their doors next year.
One security firm has no plans to bid for plum IR projects.
Aexis Security Management’s managing director Tay Eng Hock, 47, said: ‘If there is a tender for security at the casinos, we won’t be going for it.’
He added: ‘Casinos are against my personal conviction and doesn’t go with my company’s code of ethics.’
As for Equus, it had previously also turned down deals related to the sale of military equipment, embryonic stem cell testing and tobacco products.
The 14-year-old firm, which has won awards with its designs for brochures and annual reports in New York, Hong Kong and Australia, declines about two deals a year and reckons that it has lost about $100,000 in projects.
But Equus’ Mr Thomas, a British expatriate who started the company with three others, said that what was ‘priceless’ was its ‘reputation for being an honest company with integrity’.
In July last year, the firm had refused a $50,000 offer to market and brand a karaoke lounge.
‘We found out that it was in a ‘flesh for sale’ business and had shady dealings,’ he said.
Still, rejecting the recent casino-related work was not easy.
‘The property conglomerate was a long-time client, so it was tricky,’ Mr Thomas said. ‘Eventually we apologised and said we couldn’t because of our code of ethics.’
Mr Zheng, who had also turned down jobs from a tobacco and liquor company, has not always found it easy to say ‘no’, too.
‘It’s tough to turn away from these material benefits and success,’ he said. ‘But I have to stand by my beliefs.’
One firm, however, is looking forward to working with Genting’s casino when it opens here.
Mr Simon Faure-Field, 37, director of Equal Strategy, said that his company, which deals with multi-sensory marketing, was hired two months ago to remove the smell of tobacco from Genting’s casino in Malaysia.
‘Sometimes, people really blow this moral issue out of proportion,’ he said.
Mr Danny Chaplin, 42, the managing director of Chaplin Public Relations, agrees.
‘I find laughable this pretension towards ‘ethics’ in the world of global commerce,’ he said. ‘I say ethics are a load of hogwash.’
He has no qualms working with casinos, arms manufacturers and tobacco companies because he believes that it is ‘survival of the fittest’ in the business world.
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