Constructing the resort complexes will trigger a "virtuous investment cycle" that will boost the moribund construction sector and raise its profile as a global tourist destination, the Business Times, citing an economic study conducted by a local university, said.

The proposed casinos, when completed in 2009, will up visitor arrivals to the island-state by 10 percent and provide a 20 percent growth in private construction contracts, the study showed.

Other economic benefits that could be reaped include a 10 percent rise in share prices and a one percent rise in government spending on law enforcement measures and social safeguards.

"Under our assumptions, the increase in total output is comparable in magnitude, but opposite in direction, to that of the SARS outbreak in 2003," Choy Keen Meng, referring to the SARS-induced slump Singapore suffered in 2003, was quoted as saying.

The resulting mini economic "boom" should also create 30,000 new occupations, two-thirds jobs indirectly related to the resorts, Choy said.

Singapore, which ended a four-decade ban on casinos in April, is hoping that the multi-billion-dollar project would spice up its strait-laced image and attract more tourists to its shores.

A record 8.3 million people visited Singapore in 2004 -- almost double the local population -- and generated receipts of S$9.6 billion (US$5.8 billion). The affluent island nation is hoping to attract 17 million arrivals and receipts of $30 billion annually within a decade.

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