Additional rules don’t apply to casinos
New regulations for gambling in Singapore will be under way starting next April 30. The stricter rules include a mandatory self-exclusion program, reduced quotas and lifting the minimum legal gambling age from 18 to 21.
Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam announced the plan on July 20. It followed reports last April that the Tiong Bahru Football Club generated SGD$36.8 million (US$27 million) in revenue from just 29 machines last year, an exorbitant take that sparked curiosity and then an investigation.
“Our sense is that some operators sort of pay lip service to the need to provide other services and focus on the jackpot machines as their primary objective,” said Shanmugam. “That we cannot allow.” Under the new rules, Singapore’s 82 clubs must demonstrate that they are operating “a suitably wide range of substantive recreational and social facilities.”
The regulations could reduce the number of slot machines—or jackpot machines, as Singaporeans call them—by around one-third from 1,900 to fewer than 1,300, reported Inside Asian Gaming.
Advertising of jackpot machines within the clubs themselves will be banned, as will ATMs and electronic funds-transfer systems. Failure to comply could mean fines of up to SG$20,000 or even a year in jail.
“I think it is fair to say it is likely that if some of the clubs don’t change their model, then it will be difficult to carry on in their current form,” Shanmugam said. The new rules do not apply to Singapore’s casinos.
