By Ashok Soman

For those following the saga of Marina Bay Sands, the world’s most expensive hotel property at more than SGD8 billion, February 17 marked the end of the beginning. Since April 2010, the 2,561-room integrated resort and its casino have been awash in an unstoppable tide of celebrations and with good reason.

From literally nowhere, Singapore is today the second largest gaming market in Asia, with revenues for 2010 estimated at SGD3.7 billion according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The celebrations February 17 – complete

with a spectacular and unrivalled light-and-laser show called Wonder Full

– were just the icing on the cake.

In particular, the festivities also mark the official opening of the ArtScience museum, the start of the aforementioned Wonder Full show (images from which illustrate this story) and the launch of seven celebrity chef restaurants. Next up for Marina Bay Sands, Broadway musical The Lion King, which opens March 3, 2011. 

Marina Bay Sands