Legality of Online Gambling in Singapore
In recent times, an increased number of people are showing an interest in online poker or internet poker. Many actually make a living out of it. A career in poker can be both challenging and exciting and it is seriously not meant for everyone. Professional poker players in United States and Canada are pretty common, but not in Singapore.
Playing poker online in Singapore is ILLEGAL, but I do know of some who continue to do so. It is the typical “Do but don’t get caught rule”. Interesting enough, our local police has a Gambling Suppression Branch, which I assume is pre-dominantly directed towards illegal gambling, such as bookies or illegal casino types, but the same applies for online gambling. Despite that, I was randomly googling and came across 888poker.com.sg, which was a registered domain in Singapore. I guess SGNIC isn’t a very good enforcer on the type of companies allowed to register in Singapore. On that note, 888poker is more well known as the best poker site for Canadian players. They were originally from UK but looks like have done well enough to have a global presence. For them to target the Singapore market, also shows or indicate how popular poker is in Singapore.
Technology has somewhat changed Poker. Playing online means that the ability to read a person’s face is no longer a factor. Today, in order to win, at least when are playing online, the person has to have a really strong understanding of the cards, and also needs to be able to predict how the other players are going to react. Well, Poker, an old card game is not done evolving. Eventually some new form of technology will come along and the game, or at least the way it is played, will change some more. So aligned to this, is how we adapt to changing situations and leverage on it on our current area of expertise.
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Update: Laws to curb gambling via the phone or Internet are expected to take effect next year, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), after the Remote Gambling Bill was passed in Parliament yesterday — despite several Members of Parliament (MPs) voicing concerns about the provision for exempt operators and urging a total ban on remote gambling.
The Act criminalises the entire spectrum of remote gambling, from individual gamblers to facilitators, and from runners to operators. It also provides for website and payment transactions to be blocked, and for a ban on advertisements.