Singapore parliament bans online gambling

Singapore’s parliament has passed a gambling bill prohibiting all forms of online gambling apart for a narrow exemption for not-for-profit sports betting operators.

All online casino and poker games will be made illegal while remote sports betting will only be allowed in cases where operators are based in Singapore, operate on a not-for-profit basis, contribute to social causes and have a clean compliance record.

Second minister for home affairs S. Iswaran said the exemptions to the Bill were included to prevent the sports betting from going underground and boosting illegal activity, as was seen with land-based gambling in the 1960s and 70s.

Iswaran also said the Bill aligned the country’s remote gambling laws with its land-based regulation, prohibiting the act “unless it is specifically allowed for by way of a stringently regulated exemption or licence”.

The exemption clause sparked debate within parliament after a number of MPs asked for it be placed before a select committee for further debate, but this was rejected by Iswaran who argued it had already undergone public consultations.

The debate also revealed the social gaming industry would not be affected by the Bill and could continue to operator without restriction.

The Bill was first proposed in November last year after officials lamented the lack of jurisdiction its previous gambling regulation had over online operations.

A Hong Kong-styled regulation, allowing for a single state-owned lottery operator, was then discussed in January this year before the Bill was first unveiled last month, seemingly progressing towards a blanket ban on all remote gambling.