Singapore’s new Gambling Control Bill provides stiff punishment for people who gamble with minors or place proxy bets on their behalf. The crimes are now punishable by up to six years in prison and fines up to SGD300,000 (US$223,000).
Minors also can be fined up to SGD1,500 (US$1,117). The legal gambling age is 21, except for gambling at Singapore Pools’ retail outlets, where the minimum age is 18. Those venues provide lottery and sports betting products.
The new legislation also makes it a crime for excluded people to place bets. Those offenders would face up to a year in jail, a fine of up to SGD10,000, or both, reported GGRAsia.
Proxy betting or facilitating proxy betting of casino-based games carry a penalty of up to one year in prison, a fine of up to SGD10,000, or both.
In casino proxy gambling, a proxy makes bets at a brick-and-mortar casino at the instruction of a player not physically present at the venue.
The consolidating regulatory legislation will see the repeal of several other pieces of law: the Betting Act; the Common Gaming Houses Act; the Private Lotteries Act; and the Remote Gambling Act, said the ministry.
