There's scope to raise penalties to deal with illegal gambling

WITH the World Cup getting under way in Russia on Thursday night - the host nation faced Saudi Arabia in Moscow in the first of 64 matches - it is inevitable that millions of people around the world, including punters in Singapore, will fancy a flutter or two on the games.

It was timely, then, that the Singapore government issued a reminder to the public that they will continue to clamp down on illegal remote gambling.

In a joint statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Social and Family Development revealed that two people were arrested and another 10 are being investigated for their suspected involvement in illegal remote gambling activities. Since the Remote Gambling Act came into force in February 2015, more than 800 websites, 200 bank accounts and S$7 million worth of transactions have been blocked.