Home Asian Countries Singapore Some interesting facts you should know about betting in Singapore

Some interesting facts you should know about betting in Singapore

When you look at the Singapore betting scenario you have 2 types of casinos. One which is the live casinos where you won’t just find casinos but you can also find restaurants, hotels, bars near the casino. Another one is the online casinos which you can access from wherever you are either through a mobile device or a computer. According to the latest survey from the National Council on Problem gambling most of the Singaporeans are playing the 4D and Toto games to try their luck. When you compare the survey, which was made in the year 2014 showed 44% of the population were gambling and in the year 2017, it was 52%. David Chan, who is a council member as well as a Psychology Professor, said that it’s mostly due to the increased number of people who are betting on these Toto and 4D games with their friends and socially. It has been noticed that 4D is one of the popular and highly played games according to the poll conducted last year. 

Around 43% of them played 4D while 36% of them Toto and about 21% social gambling. It’s only the 1% of people who had gambled online and involved in horse betting to hit the jackpot at the casinos. People are spending billions over these gambling games. Last year ending in March, at Totalizator Board Singapore around $ 7.2 billion were waged over various lotteries like the Toto, 4D or the sports betting. From 2012/13 financial year it has been raised from $6.2 billion which is nearly 15 % rise. Tote Board who owns the Singapore pool are the legal and sole operators of various sports betting and lotteries in Singapore. Playing Mahjong with friends has also become very popular among the citizens of Singapore. You can find different games to gamble like Toto, 4D, Singapore sweep, social gambling, the jackpot machines in local casinos, jackpot machines available in cruises, local clubs which have the jackpot machines, horse betting and several other online gambling games.

Actually, the legal age which is needed for gambling in Singapore is 21. To participate in gambling in Singapore, a person should be a minimum of 21 years old. Anyone above this specified age can participate both in the live casinos as well as the online casinos. Through the age 21 years which has been specified is for the person who can play the casino games, the person need not be 21 years to be in casino facilities. You can have lot more at the live casinos where people who are younger than 21 years old can be allowed. The only thing to make a note is that they will not be allowed to gamble or are permitted to enter the areas where gambling is carried out. According to the ministry of home affairs Singapore’s Remote gambling act, it would be illegal to provide license for those who are unlicensed gamblers in the country. Even it’s a criminal offence if anyone residing in Singapore would gamble at the unauthorized operators of gambling if they are not more than 21 years old. Make sure to enter into gambling at the right age to avoid getting into any trouble from the Singapore government. 

This law has completely blocked all the bank transactions when it comes to the unlicensed gaming activities and also had blocked access to all the unlicensed online websites which advertise, facilitate or provide any information about the remote gambling services. It also doesn’t appreciate phone betting when it’s remote gambling activity. If so, they might be penalized with either $5,000 fine or 6 months of jail and very strict penalties for those who would lure those under the age of 21 years. Whoever doesn’t follow the rules will be punished. Online gambling ads are also banned in Singapore. Due to which most of the foreign gambling sites have actually closed their customer accounts. You can bet over the local Singapore pools gambling operators and turf clubs as they have been exempt from the law. So, they would actually allow their registered customers to perform betting from their mobile devices.

When a survey has been done to find out which country has a greater number of gambling participants throughout the world, the Chinese Singaporeans were found to be 62% last year and 53% in the year 2014. Around 2-3 Chinese actually had minimum of 1 wager, 1 in 3 Indians and in Malaysia, it was less than 1 in 10 last year. According to the counselors and observers, most of the Chinese have learned to gamble at a very young age. It’s acceptable to gamble with friends and families during the festival seasons with them. But they never expected the percentage of betting would rise so high in the coming years. As it’s luring to get a million-dollar jackpot which was recently the $12 million Toto Hongbao draw, most of them would like to try their luck for the jackpot. Mr. Billy Lee who is the executive director of the Blessed Grace Social Service who actually run the support group for those who got addicted to gambling said that most of them do see their colleagues and friends buying the Toto in a hope to get the million-dollar prize and seeing them they also try to join others to try out their luck. 

The percentage of addicted gamblers was about 0.7 % in the year 2014 and last year it was noticed to be 0.9%. They are also known as pathological or problem gamblers. Professor Chan said that though the gambling addiction ratio remains stable mostly it’s still a concern for parents and well-wishers in Singapore. With addiction people also develop a lack of self-control. As they keep getting involved into gambling, they would increase the frequency of gambling beyond their abilities and then what is required. This might lead to serious mental health conditions as well, which might due to the severe loss of properties and your living.