CLIENT UPDATE
2015 MARCH
GAMBLING LAW
Ad Hoc Exemptions Under R
Remote
Gambling
ambling Act Introduced
Introduction
Following the entry into force of the Remote Gambling Act 2015 (the ““Act”) on 2 February 2015, the
Remote Gambling (Exempt Persons) Order 2015 (the “Order”)
“
”) has now been published in the
Government Gazette on 13 March 2015. The Order provides for the conditions under which a person may
(i) conduct ad hoc lotteries by the use of remote communication; and (ii) publish a remote gambling
service advertisement in respect of such exempt lotteries. This update provides an overview of the types of
exempt lotteries covered under this Order, as well as the conditions that are to be met in order for such
lotteries to be offered to individuals via remote communication means.
A.
Types of exempt lotteries under the Order
The Order only exempts the offer of ad hoc lotteries conducted by the use of remote communication.
Other forms of remote gambling,
gambling such as casino-style
style games (eg. slots, roulette, blackjack, poker and
bingo) and other types of games of chance are not included within the scope of the Order. Thus, a blanket
ban remains in place for these forms of remote gambling for now.
The three types
pes of ad hoc lotteries that the Order exempts from Sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Act,
together with the criteria that each type of ad hoc lottery is to meet to qualify as an exempt lottery, are
summarised below:
Type of adhoc lottery
Incidental
lotteries
(Regulation 3)
Applicable entity
Qualifying criteria
Any person, including a
natural
person,
company or association
or body of persons,
corporate
or
unincorporate
(a) The lottery takes place as an incidental activity for
entertainment at a fair, dance, dinner, or sporting or
athletic event or other similar event in Singapore (the
“connected event”)
”) that is attended by members of
the public or any section of the public;
(b) The
he receipts for the lottery are supplied only to those
individuals attending
ding or who are to attend the event (ie,
the lottery is open only to attendees of the connected
event);
(c) The organisers of the connected event do not collect
charges (eg. for sponsorship, commission etc.) except
fees for attending the connected event; and
(d) The results of the lottery are made public by the person.
Customer
lotteries
(Regulation 4)
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Any
business
organisation – ie, a
body
corporate
or
unincorporate
which
carries on a business in
Singapore, but does not
include
a
public
authority or a noncommercial
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(a) The lottery is a public lottery conducted by the business
organisation for the purpose of promoting the sale of
any product or service (other than a gambling service),
which product or service is sold or supplied by that
business
usiness organisation in the course of business in
Singapore;
(b) The receipts for the lottery are sold or supplied only to
a person who has purchased that product or service
CLIENT UPDATE
2015 MARCH
GAMBLING LAW
organisation
(the “customer”)
”) (ie, the lottery is open only to
purchasing customers of the bu
business organisation);
(c) The business organisation does not collect charges for
any receipt for the lottery except a reasonable charge
for the value of the product or service where sold or
supplied;
(d) The lottery is organised such that the business
organisation does not make any profits from it;
(e) Before the start of any draw of the lottery, material
information about the lottery (as stipulated in
Regulation 4(3)) is given to customers or to the gen
general
public in the manner specified in Regulation 4(4);
(f) At least 4 weeks before an
any advertisement publicising
or promoting the lottery is published, the requisite
information about the lottery is given to the Head of
the Specialised Crime Policy Bra
Branch, Criminal
Investigation Department, Singapore Police Force
(“Head SCPB CID”);
(g) The person providing the lottery is not in the business
of providing a remote gambling service;
(h) The arrangements for the lottery do not include a roll
rollover (ie,, an arrangement in which a prize not allocated
or claimed in one lottery increases the value of the
prizes available for allocation in another lottery); and
(i) The standard conditions (as stipulated in Regulation
6(1)) are satisfied in relation to that lottery.
Noncommercial
organisation
lotteries
(Regulation 5)
A
non
non-commercial
organisation – ie, (a) a
full member or an
associate member of
the National Council of
Social Service; (b) a
charity
within
the
meaning of s. 2(1) of
the Charities Act (Cap.
37); or (c) an institution
of a public character
within the meaning
of s. 40A of the
Charities Act.
(a) The lottery is a public lottery promoted wholly by a
non-commercial
commercial organisation for any of the purposes
for which that organisation is conducted;
(b) The non-commercial
commercial organisation keeps a record of the
name and address of every individual to whom is given
a right in respect of membership of the class among
whom prizes in that lottery are to be allocated;
(c) Every individual who is a member of the cl
class of
persons for the allocation of prizes in the lottery is
issued with a receipt conferring or proving that right
right;
(d) The price (if any) payable to participate in the lottery
must be shown on the said receipt and paid in full to
the organisation beforee the receipt is issued;
(e) The receipt must contain the details of the organisation
and the lottery, as stipulated at Regulation 5(2)(e);
(f) The draw in the lottery must not take place during the
period of 12 months after another lottery has been
promoted by the non-commercial
commercial organisation
organisation;
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CLIENT UPDATE
2015 MARCH
GAMBLING LAW
(g) Where the non-commercial
commercial organisation is neither a
charity nor an institution of a public character, all of
the net proceeds of the lottery must be applied to a
purpose for which that non
non-commercial organisation is
conducted; and
(h) The same regulations (g)
(g)-(i) applicable to customer
lotteries (as set out above) apply to non
non-commercial
organisation lotteries as well.
B.
Standard conditions applicable to exempt lotteries
Apart from the specific requirements stipulated in relation to each of the three types of exempt lotteries,
Regulation 6 of the Order also provides for standard conditions which are applicable to all of the exempt
lotteries (the “Standard
Standard Conditions”).
Conditions Broadly, these relate to thee conduct and administration of the
exempt lottery, which include the following conditions as summarised:
(a)
Details of the method of disposal of prizes not won or left unclaimed after 2 months of the
announcement of the winners,
winners are to be provided to the Head SCPB CID at least 4 weeks before
any advertisement publicizing or promoting the lottery is published;
(b)
The draw of the lottery must be such that members of the public may attend the draw, or, if
winner(s) are determined using a computerised system,
system, then the draw must be conducted in a
manner where an independent public accountant may witness and audit it;
(c)
Participants should not be made to pay more than 20 cents per telephone call if the draw of that
lottery is done using a telecommunication
telecommunicati system;
(d)
Notification of winners is to be done via ordinary post, e-mail
e mail or telephone unless the prize is
already given upon acquiring the right in respect of membership of the class among whom prizes
in that lottery are to be allocated;
(e)
Publication
ation of the results of the lottery is to be done within 7 days after the last draw of the lottery
in a newspaper or on
on an online location if the total value of prizes exceeds $10,000;
(f)
The organisation is to provide a written undertaking to the Head S
SCPB CID to give an audited
statement of accounts, together with the results of the lottery and the description and value of the
prizes, no later than 3 months after the last draw of the lottery.
C.
Exempt remote gambling service advertising
The Order also specifies the categories of persons who are exempted from Sections 15 and 17 of the Act,
which deal with the offence of publishing remote gambling advertisements and promoting remote
gambling, respectively.
Regulation 7(1) provides that (a) the organisers
organisers of the connected event at which the incidental lottery is to
be conducted; (b) the business organisation conducting the customer lottery; and (c) the non
non-commercial
organisation conducting the non-commercial
non commercial organisation lottery, are all exempt from the said sections of
the Act for:
•
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publishing, or authorising the publication of, a remote gambling service advertisement relating to,
or
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CLIENT UPDATE
2015 MARCH
GAMBLING LAW
•
by any conduct in Singapore promoting or authorising a promotion in Singapore that is related to,
the connected event or the incidental lottery, the customer lottery of the business organisation or the non
noncommercial organisation lottery.
Regulation 7(2) also provides an exemption to persons (the “Contractor
“Contractor”) who are engaged by another
to publish a remote
te gambling service advertisement or to promote in Singapore a lottery, where
where:
(a)
The remote gambling service advertisement or promotion is in relation to the connected event or
the incidental lottery, the customer lottery, or the non-commercial
non commercial organisa
organisation lottery; and
(b)
The Contractor is directly engaged by the organiser of the connected event, the business
organisation or the non-commercial
non commercial organisation (as the case may be).
D.
Conclusion
It is notable that the conditions applicable to each of the exempt lotteries specified in the Order correlate
to some extent to the terrestrial / land-based
based lotteries that are exempted from the Common Gaming
Houses Act (Cap. 49) by way of the Common Gaming Houses (Exemption) Notification 1996 (the “1996
Notification”).
Like the Order, the 1996 Notification also exempts public lotteries promoted as incidental to other
entertainment (Regulation 6 of the 1996 Notification), public lotteries conducted by business
organisations (Regulation 3 of the 1996 Notification), and public
public lotteries promoted by certain (non
(noncommercial) organisations (Regulation 4 of the 1996 Notification). Similarly, the Standard Conditions
overlap to some extent with the additional conditions stipulated at Regulation 5 of the Notification.
Hence, although
ugh the term “lottery” is not defined in the Order, reference may be taken from Regulation 2
of the 1996 Notification itself, which provides for the following definition of “lottery”:
“lottery” includes any game, method, device, scheme or competition whereby money
or money’s worth is distributed or allotted in any manner depending upon or to be
determined by chance or lot or mixed chance and skill but does not include any
game determined purely by skill, whether the game is held, drawn, exercised or
managed
naged within or outside Singapore.
It is also clear from the definition of the entities to which the Order applies that a person (specifically, a
‘body corporate’) that is not incorporated in Singapore may nevertheless apply for an ad hoc exemption
under Regulation 3 of the Order so long as the lottery is conducted in Singapore as an incident to the
connected event (eg. at a company dinner-and-dance
dinner
dance of a branch of a foreign company), or for an ad hoc
exemption under Regulation 4 of the Order to conduct a lottery
lottery to promote its goods or services sold or
supplied by the local branch, provided it satisfies the other conditions applicable to it.
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CLIENT UPDATE
2015 MARCH
GAMBLING LAW
Contacts
Lau Kok Keng
Partner
Head, Intellectual Property,
Sports and Gaming
Cherrin Wong
Associate
D (65) 6232 0765
F (65) 6428 2118
[email protected]
D (65) 6232 0781
F (65) 6428 2181
[email protected]
Please feel free to also contact the Knowledge and Risk Management Group at [email protected]
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