Limited legal online betting 'creates safer space to manage gambling'

Singapore

THERE is no escaping the reality that illegal gambling exists; the government's move to allow legal online betting is part of the effort to tackle the problem of remote gambling.

This was the view of Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Lee, one of two frontbenchers faced with a barrage of questions in Parliament on Monday about the recent decision to allow two betting operators to offer online betting services.

It was announced about two weeks ago that Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club had been granted a three-year exemption from the Remote Gambling Act, which bars a…