Singapore Casinos Receive Fine for Allowing Minors and Failure to Impose Entry Levies
Singapore’s city-state regulators have penalized the operators of big gambling resorts for, among other things, failing to implement an entry levy collection system. The casino regulators of the city-state levied aggregate fines against two operators of gaming resorts. These show there’s been a 60.5% decline in the 2016 financial year when compared to the results of the last year.
On the other hand, the income generated from licensing fees has increased. The Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) earned 13.9% more than during the previous reporting period. The total amount came to nearly US$32 million.
The penalties the two casino operators have to pay for the 2016 fiscal year (March 31, 2016 to March 31, 2017) have amounted to GD 165,000. This is a steep decrease from SGD 417,500 of the 2015 fiscal year. These are numbers from the CRA’s annual report for 2016-2017.
During the 2016 fiscal year, the Marina Bay Sand Pte Ltd, a part of the Las Vegas Sand Corp, received a SGD 90,000 fine. They also received another fine of SGD 15,000 for failing to prevent a minor to enter the casino’s premises. The casino had no adequate explanation for this. There was another fine of SGD 75,000 for failing to implement an entry levy collection system. Local law requires Singapore citizens or permanent residents need to pay a levy if they wish to enter the casino area of any resort.
In the same way as Marina Bay Sands, the Sentosa Pte Ltd Resorts World, part of the Genting Singapore Plc, were also fined SGD 75,000. The fine resulted from the failure to prevent seven underage children from accessing the casino floor. Under Singapore law, patrons must be 21 or older to legally gamble at casino venues.
Jerry See, the CRA’s chief executive, explained casino operators have taken necessary steps to amend missteps noted in the annual report for 2016-2017. He also added that the CRA will continue to work with casino operators. The goal is to strengthen their compliance with regulations.
Lee Tzu Yang – chairman of CRA
Lee Tzu Yang, the chairman of CRA, has explained they were in the process of contacting counterparts. They’re asking for their approach to the regulation. The agency wants to examine their operating parameters. The goal is to determine how to best meet the objectives of the body with the advent of new technologies and gaming products. These could potentially challenge the status quo. The CRA wants to include new interfaces that deal with virtual reality and mobile devices as well.
The CRA’s staffing costs for the previous fiscal period have remained basically the same, SGD20.3 million. However, the costs for expert services and management have gone up by 160%, from SGD3.7 million to SGD9.5 million. Expert services and management mainly include IT services and the costs for manpower, enforcement, and monitoring. There are also costs of consultant fees that went into pockets of various government agencies.
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