Regulating Casino and Gambling Industry
Gambling is regulated tightly through strict laws to maintain law and order as well as to minimise potential harm to the society. Gambling activities are prohibited unless they are exempted or licensed.
MHA adopts a holistic approach to tackling law and order concerns associated with gambling activities. It does this through:
- Strict Laws on Gambling
- Tough Enforcement Action, Especially Against Syndicated Gambling Activities
- Public Education and Engagement Efforts
MHA also partners the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to protect young persons and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling through the robust implementation of social safeguard
policies.
What We Do
MHA regulates legal gambling operators in Singapore through the following:
Gambling Regulatory Authority
The Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) was reconstituted from the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA) on 1 August 2022. GRA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is responsible for regulating the gambling industry in Singapore.
GRA's mission is to protect the people of Singapore by keeping gambling honest and free of criminal influence, and minimising the harms from gambling.
For more information on GRA, please visit GRA's website.
Legislation
Our laws on gambling include the following:
- The Betting Act (BA) and Common Gaming Houses Act (CGHA), enacted in 1960 and 1961 respectively, criminalise unauthorised physical gambling activities
- The Casino Control Act (CCA), enacted in 2006, covers the regulation of the casinos, and sets up the Casino Regulatory Authority
- The Remote Gambling Act (RGA), enacted in 2014, covers the regulation of remote gambling in Singapore, including a comprehensive set of blocking measures, namely, website blocking, payment blocking
and advertising bans, and a tightly controlled exemption regime
- The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Singapore Act (GRA Act) and the Gambling Control Act (GC Act) have taken effect on 1 August 2022.
