Singapore Enacts Casino Control Updates to Prescribe Electronic Credits as Chips and Add New Offences

Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs detailed new rules prescribing electronic credits as casino chips to enable cashless gaming under the Casino Control (Amendment) Act 2024. Cryptocurrency is barred over money laundering risks while new offences target post-result bet withdrawals, non-card game recordings and excluded-person liability. Operator suitability criteria expand and patron data sharing is mandated.

SCCG Take — The updates enforce tighter AML and integrity standards across Singapore’s casino duopoly without opening unregulated payment channels. Operators face immediate preparation for data-sharing protocols and enhanced governance scrutiny.

Singapore is to enact new casino regulations to prescribe electronic credits as casino chips. New wagering instruments may also be prescribed in future should the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) assess them to be suitable.

This is according to a Monday update from the Ministry of Home Affairs outlining the second tranche of measures under the Casino Control (Amendment) Act 2024 that took effect that day. The Act received a second reading in parliament in September 2024.

The intent of the changes is to future-proof the regime to allow for new modes of payment such as cashless gaming. An example is where a patron may place wagers at either the gaming tables or gaming machines by drawing down virtual credits directly from his cashless gaming account or e-wallet.

The GRA has no intention of allowing cryptocurrency to be used as chips for casino gambling as this presents money laundering risks.

New Offences to Deter Casino-Related Crime

New offences include prohibition on withdrawal of bets after the result of a game is known. Previously it was an offence to place a bet after the result is known but not to withdraw one, and police had to use other laws for such cheating cases.

Recording of non-card games is now an offence. Previously it was an offence to record cards dealt but police encountered cases of patrons recording play patterns of non-card games such as gaming machines.

An excluded person will be liable for entering, remaining or taking part in gambling on casino premises if it is proven that he knows or ought reasonably to know that he was an excluded person. This removes the prior requirement for the GRA to prove awareness of exclusion status.

Expanded Operator Suitability and Consumer Safeguards

The amended act expands suitability criteria for casino operators. These now include whether the operator conducts its business in a manner which is unethical or which will bring discredit to casino gambling in Singapore and whether there has been a systemic deficiency or failure in the casino operator’s internal controls or corporate governance.

The GRA is empowered to take disciplinary action against an operator if it assesses that suitability to hold a casino licence is affected. Casino operators must share information on patrons for tackling money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing to allow swifter action on higher-risk patrons.

Protections for vulnerable groups are strengthened. The breach of a family visit limit for casinos is now criminalised for parity. The National Council on Problem Gambling can immediately substitute an exclusion order with a visit limit and vice versa, avoiding a prior one- to two-month wait.

The ministry stated that taken together these amendments will keep Singapore’s casino regulatory framework robust and responsive to emerging risks, uphold the integrity of casino operations and strengthen safeguards against gambling-related harm. This update was reported by GGRAsia.

Reporting: GGRAsia

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