The William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, named after the founder of US gaming giant Harrah's, will offer courses on money management, casino security as well as other hospitality courses, the report said.

It will also offer a two-year bachelor's degree in hotel administration to third and fourth year university students, as well as an executive master's degree on the same subject.

The bachelor's degree will cost US$5500 for each semester and $35,000 for the master's programme.

The school expects 80 percent of its students to come from the region with local residents making up the rest.

It hopes to have 25-50 students for the two programmes in the first year of opening and raise the intake to 250 in five years' time.

The Singapore government announced in April plans to build two casino resorts to spice up its staid image and attract more tourists despite strong domestic opposition to new gambling operations.

Fourteen gaming firms, from South Africa, Australia, Malaysia and the Bahamas as well as the United States, are in the running to build the two casino resort projects, which are due to open around 2009.

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