Law amendments proposed to criminalise violation of Family Visit Limit at S'pore casinos

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has tabled a new bill to tighten casino regulations in Singapore and crack down on casino-related offences.

If passed, the amendment to the Casino Control Act (CCA) will criminalise acts such as breaching visit limits applied for by one's family, withdrawing bets after they have been placed and recording gaming machines within the casino.

According to the law, individuals may apply to limit the visits of a family member whose gambling has caused harm to the casinos in a calendar month.

The bill also proposes that penalties be increased for minors faking their age to enter the casino and Singaporean Citizens or Permanent Residents (PRs) trying to enter without paying the entry levy.

The bill was first read in parliament on Aug. 6.

Breaching family visit limit could be made punishable

These amendments are to ensure the Act "remains effective and keeps pace with changes in the wider gambling landscape", according to a joint release by the MHA and Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

The act was last amended in 2012.

The proposed bill aims to make it an offence to breach a casino visit limit applied for by a family member.

Currently, breaching exclusion orders at casinos, except self-imposed ones, and visit limits imposed by law or by the National Council for Problem Gambling (NCPG) is an offence.

In response to media queries, MHA said that an average of five people per year were found to have breached the Family Visit Limit.

In future, persons found guilty of the offence may be fined up to S$10,000, jailed up to 12 months, or both.

Crackdown on other casino-related crimes

Withdrawing a bet after the result is known, such as in the case of withdrawing one's chips before the dealer notices, is to be classified as a criminal offence under the bill.

Currently, it is only an offence to place a bet after the result is known.

The bill will also recognise the recording of non-card games, such as when patrons record the play patterns of gaming machines, as an offence.

It is currently illegal to record card games in the casinos.

MHA revealed that in 2023, 137 crime cases were reported at both casinos, making up 0.2 per cent of all reported crime cases in Singapore.

Most were offences under the Casino Control Act and theft crimes under the Penal Code.

Penalties may be increased

The bill also proposes to increase the penalties for certain offences to align them with similar offences in other laws.

Minors refusing to give particulars, such as their age, or using false evidence of age to enter casinos, may be fined up to S$10,000 under the new bill.

This is up from a maximum fine of S$1,000 under the current regulations.

Only those 21 and above are allowed to enter casinos in Singapore.

Singapore Citizens or PRs found to have entered casinos without paying the entry levy can be fined S$1,500, up from a maximum of S$1,000 under current rules.

Streamlining info sharing for suspected money laundering cases

The bill will also empower casino operators to share client information directly with one another in cases of suspected money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing.

Currently, it is illegal for the operators to do so without the person's consent.

MHA said such provisions will facilitate information sharing in such cases so operators can take timely action.

Expand scope of activities that can be approved in casinos

MHA also noted that manufacturers of gaming machines have been developing software which can be deployed on mobile devices like tablets.

Under current regulations, the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) approves gaming machines, and the bill will also allow them to approve such gaming software should the need arise.

To pre-empt future changes in the gambling landscape, the bill will also expand the scope of activities that GRA can regulate in the casinos to cover betting and lotteries.

GRA clarified that there are currently no plans to allow casinos in Singapore to carry out such activities.

Entry levy to be unchanged

Authorities responded to media queries that there are no current plans to increase the entry levy for Singaporean Citizens and PRs.

In April 2019, this was increased from S$100 to S$150 (daily levy) and from S$2,000 to S$3,000 (annual levy), as part of a five-year order.

However, MHA said in the release that it overlooked the expiry of this order in April 2024, which meant the levy would have reverted to the lower rates.

MHA said that from Apr. 4 to May 7, Singapore casinos collected about S$4.4 million above the legislated entry levy rates.

The bill will make the higher levies collected from April to May 2024 official.

MHA added that it has tightened its processes to avoid a repeat of the incident.

Top image from Google.