Singapore ops ok sharing player AML data under law update
Singapore ops ok sharing player AML data under law update
Blog Article
Singapore’s Casino Control (Amendment) Bill had a first reading on Tuesday in the city-state’s parliament. The original Casino Control Act came into force in 2006, before any casinos opened in the country, and the industry’s regulatory framework has been amended since – the last time in 2012 -, in the light of industry experience and practice.
A statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday said the latest changes would “enhance the operational effectiveness” of Singapore’s casino regulatory regime, via steps including anticipation of technological developments; and would also “tighten the regulation of the casinos and licensees” in the city-state; and “strengthen protection for vulnerable groups”.
Singapore has a casino duopoly consisting of Resorts World Sentosa, run by Genting Singapore Ltd, and Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp. The Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) oversees all forms of gambling permitted in Singapore.
The amendment will enable the city’s two casino operators to share patron data – without customer consent – for the purposes of tackling money laundering, terrorism financing and weapons proliferation financing. “This would allow the casino operators to take quicker action on their end,” said the ministry.
Currently the operators are constrained by Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act from sharing such information without client consent. At present, GRA facilitates the exchange of such information between the two casino operators.”But this is operationally inefficient and impedes the casino operators from taking timely action,” said the press release.
The Ministry of Home Affairs statement noted that in 2023, only 137 reports of crime, or 0.2 percent of all reported crime cases, were at the city’s casinos.
The ministry also said in its Tuesday statement that it had tightened its own procedures to prevent repeat of a situation earlier this year, when a temporary 2019 order that upped the casino entry levy rates from respectively SGD100 (about US$75) to SGD150 a day; and SGD2,000 to SGD 3,000 a year, had lapsed on April 3, meaning levy rates had reverted for a time to the old figures on April 4.
The amendment bill seeks to anticipate – in broad terms – industry changes. It will permit GRA to regulate in the casinos to cover what are termed currently non-casino activities of “betting and lotteries”. This was in order to “to pre-empt any future changes in the gambling landscape,” noted the ministry.
But it added: “To be clear, there are currently no plans to allow casinos to carry out betting and lotteries.”
The amendment will also enable GRA to approve gaming software as a standalone component, “should the need arise”.
“Today, GRA approves gaming machines, which comprise both software and hardware,” the ministry stated. “GRA has observed that manufacturers of gaming machines have been developing software – without the hardware –, which can be deployed on off-the-shelf mobile devices such as tablets.”
The amendment will also “prescribe any instrument or thing to be regarded as [gaming] chips”.
The ministry said: “This will allow for new wagering instruments 카지노사이트 (e.g. virtual credits) to be used in future, should GRA assess them to be suitable.”
Currently, GRA must approve all manufacturers and suppliers of gaming machines that are used in a casino.
The bill will “update and streamline the process to only require manufacturers that have control over how gaming machines are designed and manufactured, to seek approval”. All other manufacturers and/or suppliers with no control over the design and manufacture of gaming machines would no longer need to seek approval.
The bill also seeks to strengthen the regulation of those designated either main shareholders, substantial shareholders or controllers, of Singapore’s casino operators.