SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Singapore’s government is set to toughen its stance on unlicensed online gambling operators, as it introduces its Remote Gambling Act next Monday 2 February. The new set of laws approved by the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will target online payment transactions and ISP blocks to unauthorised online gambling websites.
Singapore had first outlined severe amendments to its gambling framework in October 2014, in order to monitor and police remote gambling which it viewed to be a safety threat to national consumers.
The Remote Gambling Act which will be enforced next Monday, stipulates that it is a criminal offence for a person to gamble online on unauthorised websites. Furthermore operators that are deemed to offer Singapore consumers remote gambling services will face penalties and prosecutions enforced by Singapore’s criminal justice system.
The MHA backed the reforms fully, stating that they were much needed in order to protect national consumers and young citizens, who could be targeted by criminal gangs in the continent.
Singapore’s Media Development Authority, confirmed to concerned entertainment industries and bodies that the act would only persecute and effect remote gambling operations such as online casino and sports betting.
Social games and social gambling operators would not be covered by the Remote Gambling Act, as long as they offered no real money transactions with national consumers.
