Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday introduced a Casino Control (Amendment) Bill to parliament, which looks to tighten the regulation of casinos and licensees, strengthen protections for vulnerable groups and enhance the operational effectiveness of the nation’s casino regulatory regime.
According to information from the Ministry, the Bill aims to improve on areas of the Act to ensure it remains effective and keeps pace with changes in the wider gambling landscape, including preparations for future changes to the gambling landscape that may broaden the scope of games offered by Singapore’s casinos.
Among the notable amendments included in the bill are the introduction of new offences to deter criminal activity, including the new offence of withdrawing a bet after the result of a game is known – it is currently illegal only to place a bet after the result is known – another new offence related to the recording of patterns of non-card games such as gaming machines, and a greater ability to prosecute excluded persons who enter a casino premises.
The Bill allows the operators of Singapore’s two casinos – Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa – to share information of patrons with each other for the purposes of tackling money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.
It also tightens the rules related to determining the suitability of main shareholders of casino operators and hands responsibility for approval of controlling shareholders from the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Conversely, the GRA would take over responsibility from the Ministry for determining suitable persons.
In an effort to “future-proof” Singapore’s casino regulatory regime, the Bill provides for the regulation of betting and lotteries in casinos but clarifies there are no currently plans to allow casinos to carry out such activities. It also provides the ability to approve gaming software deployed developed by gaming machine suppliers for mobile devices should the need arise.
Explaining its reasons for introducing the amended bill, the MHA said, “The Casino Control Act (CCA) was introduced in 2006 to govern the operation and regulation of casinos and was last amended in 2012. Thus far, our regulatory regime has worked well. Casino-related crime remains low, problem gambling remains under control, and the casino operators have not committed any significant breach of gaming-related requirements.
Notwithstanding, as part of MHA’s regular reviews of our laws, we have identified areas where the CCA should be amended to ensure it remains effective and keeps pace with changes in the wider gambling landscape.”
