Thursday, June 7, 2012

Casino ban to extend to another 15,000 vulnerable S'poreans & PRs

SINGAPORE: Another 15,000 financially vulnerable Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs) will be barred from entering the two casinos in Singapore.

From July 2012, the third-party casino exclusion will be extended to 12,000 individuals who are receiving short to medium term ComCare assistance.

ComCare provides social assistance for low-income individuals and families.

These recipients are mostly unemployed or in financial need.

From August, 3,000 individuals paying subsidised rents for their HDB rental flats, and who have chalked up rental arrears of six months or more, will also be barred.

The Community Development, Youth and Sports Ministry (MCYS) said this is part of its move to strengthen existing social safeguards and to protect the financially vulnerable from casino gambling.

There are currently 28,000 persons who are excluded from the casinos under third-party casino exclusion.

They include undischarged bankrupts and those receiving long-term public assistance and special grants.

The third-party casino exclusion is administered by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

The intent to extend casino exclusions to more financially vulnerable persons was earlier announced by Acting Minister for MCYS Chan Chun Sing in February.

Mr Chan said: "We want to protect the financially vulnerable who can ill afford casino gambling. The 2011 NCPG Gambling Participation Survey showed a small but increasing proportion of low income gamblers who betted large amounts. We want to move proactively to address this."

NCPG Chairman Mr Lim Hock San said: "We are heartened to see the government taking measures to protect the financially vulnerable. On its part, NCPG will continue its efforts in creating greater awareness of problem gambling."

MCYS said it is working with other government agencies to review relevant legislation and regulations to beef up social safeguards.

More details will be announced later.

Apart from third-party exclusion, the other two types of casino exclusion are voluntary self-exclusion and family exclusion, where a family member can apply to bar a loved one from entering the casinos.

As of end May, 93,029 individuals are barred from entering the two casinos in Singapore.

They include 64,064 self-exclusions - 13 per cent are Singaporeans and PRs, while 87 per cent are foreigners and 1,083 family exclusion orders.

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