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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