New online betting rules will worsen gambling addiction: poll
Yahoo News SingaporeDecember 15, 2016
More than three in four Singaporeans believe the government’s decision to allow Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club (STC) to offer online betting services will worsen gambling addiction, according to a poll released Thursday (15 December).
In addition, 74 per cent of the Singaporeans surveyed oppose both online and offline gambling, the community poll conducted by research company Blackbox show.
Despite the concerns, two in five Singaporeans – 46 per cent of whom are aged 15-24 – support the new exemptions to online gambling.
The new rules, which were announced in September, allow Pools and STC to be exempted from the Remote Gambling Act. Introduced in 2014, the Act bans online and phone gambling.
The operators are required to put strict safeguards in place, such as daily spending limits. Failure in compliance could result in a fine of up to $1 million plus a revocation of the operating license.
In an interview in October, Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said that the exemptions would allow those who want to gamble online to have a “safe space where they can hopefully gamble safely and responsibly” and help the government manage the situation as effectively as possible.
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