Casinos fined over $500k for social safeguard breaches

SINGAPORE - The two casinos have been fined more than $500,000 for failing to adhere to measures intended to protect the vulnerable from gambling, it was revealed on Wednesday.

The breaches, which took place last year between May and December, included failing to stop Singapore citizens and permanent residents from getting in without paying a $100 entry levy, letting in those who had been banned, and allowing minors under 21 to enter.

Marina Bay Sands (MBS) was made to pay $337,500 after it allowed in 12 people without valid entry levies, and 16 on exclusion orders.

It also allowed five others to remain in its casino after their entry levy lapsed after 24 hours.

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), meanwhile, was fined $190,000 for letting in 12 people without valid levies, five with exclusion orders and five foreign minors. It also allowed one person to stay on after his levy expired.

The Casino Regulatory Authority said in a statement that it takes a "serious view" of these lapses.

But it also acknowledged the operators' efforts to comply with rules.

These included conducting more thorough checks at entrances, detecting when levies were about to expire, and improving the hardware such as gated entry gantries.

Since they opened in 2010, MBS and RWS, which had their licences renewed for a further three years this year, have collectively been fined nearly $2 million under the Casino Control Act for breaches of such social safeguard measures.

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