Singapore wants to ban online gambling

On Monday, September 8, a new law was presented before the Parliament of Singapore.
This text seeks to ban all forms of gambling on the Internet, telephone, or any other communication platform.
If it is passed, the country will then have one of the world’s toughest laws against online gambling.

The risks

The new bill proposes to reprimand all parties that are involved in the market for online gambling, be it the players themselves or the operators.
The players would face a fine of up to €3,100 and six months in prison, and the operators would face fines of between €12,500 and €125,000 and 5 years in prison.
In addition to that, the interior ministry also says that all the websites that facilitate or promote online gambling will be blocked, and the banks are responsible for blocking money transfers related to this activity.

One of the toughest laws in the world

If this proposed legislation is passed by the Parliament, Singapore will have one of the most stringent laws against online gambling in the whole world.
Indeed, most countries only take one or two steps to restrict this type of activity, but Singapore is opting for three: a ban, blocking access to websites and preventing money transfers to gaming operators.

An important market

According to a study that was conducted by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the turnover of the industry of online gaming in the Asian-Pacific region is expected to reach $80 billion in the 2015.
The market of Singapore alone is estimated to generate nearly $300 million, and it is expected to grow from 6 to 7% every year if the new bill is not passed.
This is precisely the reason why the government wants to ban online gambling: it is too successful.
When the authorisation of land-based casinos was announced in the year 2004, the law was heavily criticised by the religious groups in the country.
Nevertheless, the country’s authorities had voted in favour of the new bill, because of the many economic benefits that operating land-based casinos propose.
It promised creating many jobs, developing the tourism industry and generating a lot of money for the government through taxation.
However, the government seems unwilling to go any further in this direction, and simply keep the market for the land-based casinos.
It will only be logical that the Parliament will probably quickly vote on the ban of online gambling.