CASINO EXCLUSION ORDERS

CASINO EXCLUSION ORDERS:

(Number and profile of applicants): 5.

Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) if he could provide (i) an update on the number of Singaporeans who have applied for Casino Exclusion Orders; and (ii) a profile of those who are under the Casino Exclusion Order; and (b) if the Minister is satisfied with the measures in place to alleviate problem gambling in Singapore.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Vivian Balakrishnan): Mr Speaker, Sir, there are three types of Casino Exclusion Orders, namely, Voluntary Self Exclusion, Family Exclusion and Third-Party Exclusion. As at 31st December 2010, there were 3,519 Self Exclusion Orders, 297 Family Exclusion Orders and about 27,500 Third-Party Exclusions in force.

I have asked for some charts* to be circulated to hon. Members which will contain the profile of the persons placed on Casino Exclusion Orders, and in the meantime, let me highlight a few points.

For Self Exclusion Orders, 78% of the applicants were male and 92% were

*Cols. 2329-2336.

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Chinese. 36% of them were in their 30s while 25% were in their 40s.

For Family Exclusion Orders, the pattern is very much similar – 81% were male and 95% were Chinese, and 31% of the respondents were in their 40s and 22% in their 30s. Slightly more than a third of the respondents had "N" level or lower education, and another third had "O" level or ITE qualifications. Thirty-seven percent of the applications for Family Exclusion Orders were actually made by the spouses, 24% from parents, 20% from children and 19% from siblings.

Third-Party Exclusion covers persons who are on public assistance and all undischarged bankrupts, hence the high number. They are automatically barred from the casinos. As of 31st December 2010, there were about 27,500 individuals who were excluded on this basis.

The hon. Member has also asked if the Government is satisfied with the measures currently in place. As both casinos have been operating for less than a year so far, it would be premature to draw a conclusion of the impact the casinos has on the local problem gambling situation or on the adequacy of our social safeguards. But what I can say is that we will continue to enhance the safeguards in order to protect vulnerable Singaporeans, PRs and foreigners residing here, if necessary.

Both the operators of the casinos have also been reminded that they are not to target the local population.

There have been concerns raised about foreign worker patronage at the casinos. The Casino Control Act currently allows for Voluntary Self Exclusion to be made for foreigners. Thus, these foreign workers may also apply for Voluntary Self

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Exclusion. The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) is working with various community and social organisations to facilitate the Voluntary Self Exclusion for foreign workers.

The NCPG is also looking at ways to enhance the convenience of applying for Casino Exclusion Orders. In fact, just a week or two ago, the NCPG announced that it has shortened the family exclusion process from six weeks to two weeks. It is currently looking into making the applications available online in order to facilitate the process further. More details will be announced in due course.

MCYS will continue to monitor these trends, and I will give Members the assurance that we will take appropriate action, if and when necessary.

Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan (Nominated Member): Sir, may I ask the Minister two supplementary questions on this issue. Will the Ministry consider allowing friends of low-wage foreign workers to invoke an exclusionary order, for example, our foreign domestic workers (FDWs). I think given their wage structure, most of them should not be able to afford to gamble. My second supplementary question has to do with the very positive news buzz that we get around the Intergrated Resort (IR). Can the Minister update us on the efforts taken to educate school kids and youths on the ill effects of addictive gambling?

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I share the Member's concern for low-wage foreign workers, especially those who are living in our own homes, and the risks that they will be subjected to if they access the casinos. However, our current regime provides for Voluntary Self Exclusion. So I would encourage employers of foreign domestic workers to get them to sign the Voluntary Self Exclusion, and my Ministry together with the Ministry of Manpower

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would facilitate their process. But at this point in time, it has to be voluntary. You cannot impose it. Although you can apply for Family Exclusion Order for your own relatives, you cannot apply for that type of order for your employee. On the other point about the positive buzz, I think she is referring to the positive publicity which the Integrated Resorts obviously would like to project in order to increase their patronage. She is quite right. We need to continue with it and, in fact, we need to step up our efforts to educate our local population and, in particular, our young in schools about the very real risks of gambling, the propensity to addiction, the avenues to seek help and also the early warning signs and the terribly corrosive and destructive effect it can have on family relations. This is going to be ongoing work. We will continue to work with the Ministry of Education, together with the voluntary welfare organisations running the Family Service Centres

as well as other organisations providing family education in schools. This has to be work which we will continue and we will need to increase.

Mr Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade): I just want to ask the Minister a supplementary question related to IRs. I noticed of late that the IRs publicised the wins of some of their patrons. They would do something on the website which says so and so has won $x and asked them to come back or thank them for their patronage. Is that something which we would want to encourage? Is that legal? I am not sure but certainly I think this may go somewhat towards encouraging others, who may not have gone, to possibly enter these places. This is something which is of concern to me. I would like to hear the Minister's views on this.

* *Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: I share the Member's concern and we are taking steps to put a stop to that type of very asymmetrical publicity. While they would

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want to publicise the wins, you will find that they would never publicise the losses and the consequences of those losses on the gamblers and their families. So, MCYS is taking steps to put a stop to that sort of asymmetric and unfair publicity which the IRs are embarking on.