Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools will be allowed to conduct online gambling.

So, while the remote gambling act will still be in place, these two organisations will be granted an exception certificate for three years.

This is because the authorities said that the two organisations met criteria that included operating on a not-for-profit basis, contributing to social and charitable causes, and keeping its services free from “criminal influence”.

The exemption of the remote GAMBLING act was reported with the gravity it deserved, with several local publications choosing to use one word over another.

Here is a selection of some of their headlines:

Betting

It turns out that granting an exemption to the remote GAMBLING act is better expressed by calling the activity being exempted, online betting.

Again, maybe this is just common practice for them, where betting is considered a more appropriate word than the actual word used in the act.

But, that is not how the usual coverage of gambling goes in the papers.

Here is a story about a man with a gambling obsession as reported by The Straits Times.

Here's another story about gambling, not betting, syndicates.

The significance

There is nothing wrong with choosing different words to describe something.

But, it is also a given, that the choice of word affects how the general public sees things.

Because this...

is arguably more impactful than this.

And perhaps this exemption is a bit more impactful than the word betting can muster.

Top image from Wikipedia

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