It is estimated that Singapore’s online gambling market was worth somewhere in the region of SGD$ 500 million back in 2014.

Following the government’s decision to block offshore online gambling sites, and impose fines on players with new laws coming in effect 2015, the figure is now likely considerably less. Certainly, there were few bets placed online by Singaporeans at the world’s biggest online gambling operators, as most of them decided to exit the market.

Now, a year after cleaning the decks, Singapore regulators are allowing locals to bet online, albeit in a very controlled manner.

The Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools will be exempted from blocking measures, and allowed to accept bets online before year’s end. Sports bets online at this stage; no online casino or poker. Efforts to protect Singapore’s integrated casino resorts (which charge locals a fee for entry!) will probably mean this remains the case.

Meanwhile, sophisticated blocking measures will remain in place for offshore operators trying to access the market. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, ‘several hundred’ such sites have been blocked to date. However, the ministry also concedes that,

“While our blocking regime is one of the most comprehensive in the world… it is not straightforward to eradicate remote gambling totally.”