[2][3] The resort includes a 2,561-room hotel, a 120,000-square-metre (1,300,000 sq ft) convention-exhibition centre, the 74,000-square-metre (800,000 sq ft) The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands mall, a museum, a large theatre, "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating crystal pavilions, art-science exhibits, and the world's largest atrium casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines.

Marina Bay Sands was originally set to open in 2009, but its construction faced delays caused by escalating costs of material and labour shortages from the outset exacerbated by the 2007–2008 financial crisis.

The two large-scale resorts were conceived to meet Singapore's economic and tourism objectives for the next decade and will have 30-year casino licenses, exclusive for the first ten years.

Bidders were assessed based on four criteria: tourism appeal and contribution, architectural concept and design, development investment, and strength of the consortium and partners.

Its original partner City Developments Limited (CDL), with a proposed 15% equity stake, pulled out of the partnership in the second phase of the tender process.

[2][15] Las Vegas Sands declared the undertaking as "one of the world's most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built".

[20] For the economy, Marina Bay Sands was projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to Singapore's Gross Domestic Product by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and 20,000 jobs being created in other industries.

[21] As the development of Marina Bay Sands was perceived as critical in Singapore's urbanization efforts, a fixed price was set for the land.

The resort's architecture and major design changes along the way were also approved by its feng shui consultants, the late Chong Swan Lek and Louisa Ong-Lee.

Substantial temporary structures were necessary to support the legs of the tower while they were under construction, and required real-time monitoring for continual assessment and analyses in the course of their erection.

[30] A distinctive feature of the hotel is the SkyPark, a three-acre park on top of the building with swimming pools, gardens, and jogging paths.

In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, so engineers built and installed custom jack legs to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system.

[33] The Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) held the first conference at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre on 2–5 May 2010, but the event was marred by uncompleted facilities and power failure during a speech.

[34] In June IPBA counter-sued, describing the venue as a "complete disaster" and that its earlier payments had been imposed by "duress, fear and force".

On 23 June 2010, the resort had its official opening with a "2-day celebration"; this includes the Sands SkyPark, the Event Plaza along Marina Bay, more shops, additional dining options and nightlife offerings, and the rest of the hotel rooms.

The expansion plan was announced in early April of 2022, with the new tower containing 1000 hotel rooms and an adjoining concert venue with seating for 15,000 guests.

The SkyPark also has rooftop nightclubs such as Lavo (New York, Vegas) and Cé La Vi,[45] gardens, hundreds of trees and plants, and a public observatory deck on the cantilever with 360-degree views of the Singapore skyline.

The Shoppes is the main shopping mall at Marina Bay Sands, with close to 93,000 m2 (1,000,000 sq ft) of retail space with over 300 stores and F&B outlets, featuring boutiques such as Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Cartier, Prada, Gucci, Hermès, Emporio Armani, Chopard, Valentino, Dior, Dunhill, Vertu, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent Paris, Salvatore Ferragamo, Montblanc, Blancpain, Vera Wang Bride, an Hermès watch boutique, and Herve Leger.

Also housed within the Shoppes are six of the ten Celebrity Chef restaurants—Bread Street Kitchen (by Gordon Ramsay), Cut (by Wolfgang Puck), Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya Wakuda), Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza (by Mario Batali), Long Chim (by David Thompson) and DB Bistro & Oyster Bar (by Daniel Boulud).

[49] The Sands Theatre seats 2,155 people, and has hosted shows such as The Lion King, Cirque Éloize, A. R. Rahman's Jai Ho, and Wicked.

Moshe Safdie designed an Art Path within the resort, incorporating installations by five artists including Zheng Chongbin, Antony Gormley and Sol LeWitt.

Witnesses testified that the mastermind was Mr Cheung Chi-tai, who operates a VIP room related to the murder attempt in the casino of Sands Macau.

[52][53][54] In June 2020, it was reported that Marina Bay Sands was under investigation by the US Department of Justice over alleged breaches of anti-money laundering regulations.

Then-Minister for Community Development, Youth, and Sports, Vivian Balakrishnan had earlier stated in Parliament that his ministry would take steps to stop such publicity.

Although it had previously stated that it had operated in accordance with applicable law, the casino subsequently took down the relevant web pages and said it would stop such future publicity.

[56][54] In late 2011, Marina Bay Sands had a dispute with Madam Choo Hong Eng, on whether she was entitled to winnings which a slot machine had allegedly shown that she had won on 18 October 2011.