But Sociedad de Jogos de Macau would consider setting up an operation in Singapore if the city-state's authorities give the green light to opening a casino here, the company's director, Ambrose So, said.

"In my view, if a place that is already a financial centre, (where) you have sophisticated (financial) trading, it's not advisable to have a casino there," So told reporters on the sidelines of an Asian casino conference here.

"And to have a casino operation, it needs to be an export industry rather than a local industry created from inside in order to avoid the (social) impact as much as possible."

So said casinos operating as an export industry means that they should target mainly foreigners rather than locals for their clientele.

So, stressing his views were a personal opinion, said the most successful casino operations were located in Las Vegas in the United States and Macau, which are both known as tourist destinations rather than financial hubs.

So said that a financial centre has top business executives who can fall victims to the negative impact of casino gambling.

"Bear in mind that if you have a local casino, they are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day," he said, referring to the potential temptations for business people.

So said, however, his company would still be interested in a possible investment in the event Singapore legalised casino operations.

Singapore, which is considering establishing a casino on one of its offshore islands, would be a good location because of its status as a favourite site for international conventions, So said.

But Thailand would be a more attractive region for operators if the government there also legalises casino operations because of a bigger domestic base, he added.

Steven Lim, executive director of Malaysia-based casino consultancy RGB, singled out Macau, the Philippines and Vietnam as growth areas for casino operations in Asia.

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