With millions of potential customers in China alone expected to travel as current restrictions continue to ease and Singapore positioned as one of the dominant crossroads of the region, it's clear why more than a dozen companies are vying to build two integrated resorts in a place many expected would never have casinos.

It also makes it even more intriguing that Las Vegas Sands Inc. executive William Weidner chose to blast the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority during an appearance at the Asian Casino Expo here last week.

Several gaming and government experts have done some handicapping of the players in the competition for Singapore.

The Singaporeans want iconic resorts that will bolster the tourism industry without stealing market share from existing hotels. They want development from companies that aren't strictly casino operators, developers that are as likely to build great restaurants and retail as they are developing a casino floor.

In a recent visit to Las Vegas, Frank Lavin, the United States' ambassador to Singapore since 2001, paid visits to some of the locally based companies that are in the running for the Singapore project.

In interviews with Las Vegas media, Lavin, on a tour of the United States sponsored by the U.S. Association of Southeast Asia Nations Business Council, said Singapore wants something more than a nice hotel.

"They're looking for something extra," Lavin said of Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Remaking Singapore Committee.

The nation is hoping the new resorts will double the 17 million annual visitors to Singapore, putting it in a class close to Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas companies have a lot going for them, but the groups from other countries are just as viable. And they're all looking to put that "something extra" in their packages to make the Singapore government take note.

Sol Kerzner's Sun International group is world-renowned for its Sun City and Atlantis properties in South Africa and the Caribbean, respectively.

Kerzner's Atlantis property, a 2,137-room resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, is well known as are Kerzner International's resorts in Mexico, Mauritius, the Maldives and Dubai. Incidentally, Kerzner was in Las Vegas recently and expressed some desire to get into the Las Vegas game.

The Australians have a reputation for knowing the Southeast Asian market, so Crown Ltd. certainly can't be counted out. One Australian group reportedly is offering to build a Formula 1 race course if it is awarded a concession.

Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Jogos de Macau has a huge reputation and major exposure in Asia. The company not only operates 15 Macau casinos, including the Lisboa, the Pharaoh's Palace and the Casino Oriental, it also runs the dominant transportation link between Hong Kong and Macau.

Stanley Ho's reputation extends beyond the casino industry. His name is on a theater at the Hong Kong Space Musum.

The American companies also are well-positioned.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. enjoys a great reputaton in Macau and the new Wynn Macau will soon dominate the city skyline.

MGM Mirage has a project well off the ground in Macau.

Harrah's Entertainment has the advantage of owning some major brand names. If the Singapore group is impressed with a name like Caesars Palace, it may be an important player in the competition.

Las Vegas Sands Inc. already has proved itself in the Asian market by delivering a casino in Macau and announcing plans for a much larger project on the Cotai Strip just over a bridge from central Macau.

Sands has promised a Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, a cruise ship terminal and a monorail system in Singapore.

A Universal Studios theme park also is under consideration at one of the two sites.

With the level of competition so high, it was curious to hear Weidner take issue with the LVCVA in a panel at the Asian Casino Expo conference that included a representative of Harrah's, Richard Mirman, senior vice president of business development.

Panelists were asked about marketing the resorts and Weidner didn't hesitate to say the resort owners were best qualified to get word out on their properties. He then criticized the LVCVA, indicating it was inefficient in managing its convention center. Las Vegas Sands, of course, has its own convention center in Las Vegas and frequently has pointed out that room tax money collected on the Venetian is used to run the convention center and compete with its Sands Expo Center.

Weidner said he is a free-market capitalist and doesn't believe in the government competing with private enterprise.

Most Las Vegans get the criticism and many people, I'm sure, even agree with Weidner. But was criticizing the LVCVA in front of the Singaporeans a wise tactic? Do most Singaporeans even understand what the LVCVA is and what its purpose is?

We may learn the answer by the end of the year when Singapore makes its decision and we find out whether Las Vegas Sands will be one of the companies chosen to build.

Richard N. Velotta covers tourism and gaming for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4061 or by e-mail at velotta@lasvegassun.com.