Sun Xueling on Casino Control (Amendment) Bill

Breaching a family visit limit at Singapore’s two casinos will become a punishable offence under proposed changes to the law. Anyone doing so could be fined up to S$10,000 and jailed for up to a year if found guilty. Those under exclusion orders from the casinos will also be subject to tighter laws. Breaching such orders will be a crime as long as the excluded person knows, or ought reasonably to know, about their exclusion status. These were among changes outlined in Parliament on Tuesday (Sep 10) by Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling. Apart from reducing harms to those at risk of problem gambling and their families, the amendments aim to deter already low crime at the casinos and ensure that operations are run honestly. For example, new offences are introduced, such as withdrawing bets after the result of a game is known, and recording play patterns of non-card games which could be used to cheat the casinos. To future-proof regulations, the Gambling Regulatory Authority’s (GRA) powers would go beyond games of chance to cover betting and lotteries, gaming software which can be deployed on mobile devices, and allowing new betting instruments such as virtual credits to be used as chips in casinos, should the need arise. The proposals also allow the casino operators to share patrons’ information with each other to more effectively tackle money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. Other suggested changes include approval of relevant divestments and acquisitions by the main shareholding regimes of casino operators being transferred from the GRA to the Home Affairs Minister, and expanding the suitability criteria for casino licences.