Singapore looks to beef up gambling regulatory regime with new bill

A new bill that aims to modernise and strengthen the regulation of the Singaporean gambling market has been introduced for the first reading in the nation’s parliament.

The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore Bill and the Gambling Control Bill will expand the mandate of the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) by replacing it with the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA).

The new GRA would retain and oversee all regulated gambling in Singapore while also working to quell Singapore’s black market for unlicensed gambling sites.

In addition, this bill updates gambling laws and regulatory approaches to keep up with the ever-evolving gambling industry.

As part of these efforts to make legislation future-proof and easily prosecutable, the bill covers unlawful gambling offences and non-casino gambling regulations.

The bill will rationalise offences and penalties across the four existing pieces of gambling legislation.

There will be a three-tier penalty structure that will be applied across the board for unlawful gambling offences across land-based and online gambling activity. These tiers will differentiate between agents, punters and operators.

Operators will be hit hardest with penalties as they have the highest culpability, followed by agents then punters. These penalties are aimed at providing a strong deterrent to criminal syndicates targeting Singapore.

The bill will impose mandatory imprisonment for agents and operators who breach the rules, and the penalties will be even higher for repeat offenders.

This will see the repeal of Singapore’s Betting Act, Common Gaming Houses Act, Private Lotteries Act and Remote Gambling Act and their respective replacement with the new act.

Legislation to regulate gambling advertising with the aim of combatting gambling-related harm as well as new penalties related to self-excluded individuals. In addition, there are now two safeguarding offences being added pertaining to underage gambling.

These offences are similar to the ones already outlined in the Casino Control Act, but there will now be rules that will not allow these individuals to be permitted to gamble nor enter gambling areas across all platforms and locations where NCPG exclusions apply.

Finally, it will be a criminal offence for anyone underage to gamble, whether that is at legal or unlawful operators. It will also be a criminal offence for underage individuals to enter gambling areas, except where no entry checks exist.

To facilitate this change, Singaporean legislators held a series of engagement sessions to gain the views of stakeholders in summer 2021.

This bill would also bring in a whole host of enhanced social safeguarding rules and regulations to help those that are most at risk and how gambling can be advertised across Singapore. Under the GC Bill, the minimum gambling age will remain at 21, except for gambling at Singapore Pools’ physical outlets where it will remain at 18.

There are also new penalties pertaining to excluded individuals. These offences are similar to the ones already outlined in the Casino Control Act, but there will now be rules that will not allow these individuals to be permitted to gamble nor enter gambling areas across all platforms and locations where National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) exclusions apply. These rules do not apply to those under self-exclusion.

Regarding advertising, the law will be updated to be consistent in terms of advertising and promotion offences across gambling modalities.

There will be a table on a later date, to enhance the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill’s effectiveness in regulating the casinos.