Reports SPORTS-BETTING ASIA - PART 2
Essential facts about sports-betting in Singapore
Non remote operators No. of betting shops
1 (Singapore Pools)
27 Singapore Pools branches and 44 authorised agents
GGR S$522m
Horse racing operator Horse tracks GGRs
Singapore Turf Club (STC) 1 – Kranji (STC) S$223m
Online market Prohibited Remote GGR S$500m (2014 est.)
Remote licences 0 Licensing
Singapore Tote Board
1933 and later to its present location in Kranji in 1999. Racing is held all year round mostly every
Friday and Saturday with simulcast races from overseas. Most of the 100 odd races are restricted to locally trained horses except a couple of international races in May. Tere is no breeding in Singapore so horses
are imported mainly from Australia and New Zealand. Te racecourse comprises of two main tracks - the StrathAyr Turf Track with two courses and the Polytrack (synthetic track) which also serves as a training track. Tickets are $5 minimum entry and the
grandstand has a seating capacity of 13,000 with a further standing room area which can accommodate a total of 30,000 race goers. In January 2015 Singapore Turf Club
introduced a new generation of self betting kiosks. Tey are located at the Kranji racecourse and betting outlets and have improved productivity. Total turnover from the totalisator in 2015 was
S$1.4bn, a drop of 5.9 percent on the previous year attributed mainly to fewer races from Singapore and major simulcast venues. Total turnover for the Tote Board from
lotteries and sports betting and totalisator was S$8.2bn in 2015 whilst total income was S$745m.
ONLINE Online gambling is currently prohibited in
Singapore. Te two gambling acts were P108 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
introduced long before online gambling and therefore do not apply to modern forms of gambling although the situation has been a somewhat grey area. Previously players were able to access online
gambling via the comfort of their own home and play on such sites such as Bet365, Ladbrokes and PinnacleSports. But then in October 2014 the Singapore
Parliament introduced the Remote Gambling Bill for online gambling citing “protectionism of their youth”. Tis came into effect in February 2015 and basically saw blocks on offshore online gambling sites also restricting player access. Te Remote Gambling Bill basically stopped
operators providing online gambling services, payment transactions and player access to sites, with big fines and imprisonment penalties. Te bill required ISPs to block national and
international offshore betting sites and there are fines of up to $5,000 for anyone found betting on casino, poker or sports betting internet sites. Te bill is governed by the Gambling
Regulatory Unit (GRU) via the Ministry of Home Affairs Meanwhile in July 2015 both Singapore Pools
and the Turf Club applied for exemptions under the RGA which could, if accepted, see the market open this year. Te Ministry is now evaluating the applications based on strict
criteria which includes: l Te entity has to be based in Singapore l Director or officials have no convictions.
l Te operator has to be a not-for-profit entity contributing to public, social and charitable purposes.
l Te entity has to possess a consistent and good track record of compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
l Other relevant factors in granting an entity a certificate of exemption. Tere was an August 1 2015 deadline for
lottery operators to apply to the Ministry of Home Affairs to be exempted under the Remote Gambling Act. Te applications will take about 12 months to evaluate and it is thought there could be an online gambling market by summer 2016.
Any operator applying for exemption must be
getting into online betting “not for profit” and has to include specific safeguards to help control activity. Singapore Pools said it would include time
display on the website and self exclusion orders. It is reported that the online gambling
industry in Singapore raked in $500m last year from gambling portals based locally and overseas before they were shut down. Meanwhile in anticipation and in a bid to
push its exemption Singapore Pools has hired UK based OpenBet, which provides software for the likes of William Hill and Betfair, to help replace its current website with one which can offer sports betting. Tey have signed a seven year deal with OpenBet to develop its online betting service.
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