The Singapore government has cracked down on illegal gambling by banning over 3,800 illicit websites.
Assessing that the banned websites target Singapore gamblers, the Ministry of Home Affairs has blocked the websites as of 31 December 2024.
Singapore’s Government suggested that the websites may have contributed to more than 145,000 illegal gambling transactions involving the Singapore public, amounting to approximately SGD$37m (£22m).
“These blocking measures have impeded access to illegal online gambling to some extent,” a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs read.
“However, this approach is clearly not foolproof as illegal operators can easily create new websites, and we do not have the ability to know of every gambling website.
“We encourage members of the public to report illegal gambling websites, apps, and advertisements, as well as bank accounts used by illegal gambling operators, to the police.”
The Government body also responded to a question from a Mr Yip Hon Weng, which probed Singapore officials on whether they would allow families of problem gamblers to request the blocking of bank accounts used to fund their gambling activities.
To this request, the Ministry of Home Affairs suggested that there are “no plans” to allow this, considering current measures in the fight against illegal gambling to be “adequate”.
This notion was supported by the Government body, which stated that the probable pathological and problem gambling rate has remained low and stable at about 1%.
Singapore also has various responsible gambling measures in place to protect problem gamblers, such as Social Service Agencies providing counselling and running support groups, as well as a National Problem Gambling Helpline.
iGaming Expert insight: While cracking down on illegal gambling websites will enable Singapore to decrease the levels of problem gambling in the nation, the severity of the issue has been highlighted by the Government. The latest steps also serve as an alert to other markets that website blocking is a key tool when it comes to tackling the black market and strangling its ability to prey on the most vulnerable.
