Money's worth and a game of chance

THE broad goal of Singapore's proposed Remote Gambling Bill is to clamp down on illegal Internet gambling and we think this is a good move by the government. It is a goal we at the International Social Games Association (ISGA), as a non-profit global industry trade association, wholeheartedly support.

Unfortunately, the current draft of the Bill goes beyond the social ill that the law tries to control and puts an entirely separate and legitimate industry in Singapore (and beyond) at great risk: the online social games industry and the innovative technology companies behind them.

To understand how this might happen, let us first explain what social games are, and how they work.