Under the update, Singapore’s Gambling Regulatory Authority can now also regulate betting and lotteries inside casinos, not just games of chance, and can approve gaming software, including apps used on mobile devices. New regulations will also treat electronic credits as casino chips, with room for other betting instruments to be added later if the regulator sees fit.
The Ministry of Home Affairs shared:
“Previously, it was an offence for patrons to place a bet in a casino after the result is known but not an offence to withdraw a bet after the result is known, and the police have had to use provisions in other laws to deal with such cheating cases. This right-sites the provisions under the CCA.”
New offences now cover withdrawing a bet once a result is known, closing a gap that previously only banned placing a bet after the outcome was clear. Recording play patterns on non-card games, like slot machines, is also now illegal, matching rules that already existed for card games. Excluded players can also be held liable for entering a casino if they reasonably should have known about their exclusion, even without direct proof they knew.
The changes also let regulators swap a Visit Limit for a full Exclusion Order immediately, rather than the one- to two-month gap the old process required, closing a window where at-risk players had no protection at all.
