Singapore To Become Online Gambling Hub?

“Singapore the new capital for online gambling” could this be a title for the future? The Republic of Singapore is an island city-state off southern Malaysia and currently hosts two casinos with Genting Resorts World Sentosa and Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands.

With just two casinos Singapore still ranks fourth in the world behind Macau, USA and Canada in terms of gaming revenues and that goes a long way in showing that Singapore residents love to gamble. Indeed Singapore gamblers constantly rank either first or second in spend per head in terms of gambling.

Both casinos in Singapore also see a minimum of 60% of their customers being from the country, so the fact that nationals like to gamble is clear. However currently the only online gambling allowed is by the state monopoly run Singapore Pools, offering online betting on sporting events and lotteries.

There is a strict code to be able to get an account which includes a video call to sign up to ensure age verification and to check you are not excluded under the family exclusion order (this is a programme that allows families of problem gamblers to block those people from setting up a gambling account).

However over recent months there has been discussions at government level on the viability of keeping online gambling under control in the country, most recently police in Singapore arrested 36 individuals in relation to running online gambling services. This latest crackdown is one of many such cases with groups organising online gambling on sports betting, lottery and casino games, one official in the law department was quoted as saying that “the police and security services are not winning the fight against illegal online gambling.”

In 2021 a new regulator will come into existence called the Gambling Regulatory Authority, it will be charged with overseeing all activities in relation to the two casinos and the Singapore Pools.

Whispers are now coming from sources within government that this new regulator will eventually oversee the introduction of overseas online gambling operators also. Singapore is growing within the technology industry with Chinese technology companies such as Tencent and Alibaba increasing their presence in Singapore, technology firms look at Singapore as the emerging leader as a technology hub in South East Asia.

Many technology analysts believe that it is only a matter of time when online gambling companies also consider investing in regional offices in Singapore to explore potential opportunities within the region.

The importance, power and influence of land based casinos and their operators in the region is not to be underestimated however with the continuing disruption to those operations during the COVID-19 pandemic many governments are looking at lower tax incomes from those gambling hubs and the consideration of online gambling is a strong attraction in a world where that industry is growing considerably due to the effects of COVID-19.

“Singapore the future hub for online gambling,” maybe not such an outlandish statement after all.