Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) was fined a total of $95,000 in Singapore's last financial year for breaching casino control regulations by not doing proper checks on its customers, and the Ceylon Sports Club had its license suspended for one month1. The Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) disclosed both actions in its annual report, published online on Tuesday1.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, RWS was fined $20,000 for failing to perform customer due diligence measures and $75,000 for failing to perform enhanced customer due diligence measures1. The Ceylon Sports Club suspension was over its failure to comply with regulatory requirements relating to the screening and registration of people and prevention of entry of excluded people1.
The GRA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Home Affairs and was inaugurated on Aug 16, 20221. It replaced the Casino Regulatory Authority (CRA), which was established in 2008 to oversee Singapore's two integrated resorts, RWS and Marina Bay Sands (MBS)1.
The figures are lower than the previous financial year, when RWS was fined $200,000 in total by the CRA for failing to perform customer due diligence measures, plus $75,000 for failing to implement a system of internal controls approved by an authority1. The highest amount of fines handed out by the CRA over the last 10 years was between April 2018 and March 2019, when RWS was hit with $730,000 in fines and MBS had to pay $15,000 for various breaches1.
| Period | Body | Fines |
|---|---|---|
| April 2022 to March 2023 | RWS | $20,000 customer due diligence; $75,000 enhanced customer due diligence |
| Previous financial year | RWS | $200,000 customer due diligence; $75,000 internal controls |
| April 2018 to March 2019 | RWS | $730,000 |
| April 2018 to March 2019 | MBS | $15,000 |
The Straits Times said it had reached out to the GRA for more details on the breaches by RWS, and that the resort declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday1. The specific dates of the Ceylon Sports Club suspension, the dates of the RWS breaches, and the size of any penalty on the club beyond the suspension have not been reported1.
What it means for players
Customer due diligence is the checking casinos must do on who is gambling and where their money comes from, and enhanced due diligence is the deeper version applied to higher-risk customers1. The RWS fines relate to failures in those checks rather than to the outcome of any particular bet, and the report does not say which customers or transactions were involved1.
For the Ceylon Sports Club, the one-month suspension followed failures in screening and registering people and in preventing excluded people from entering1. Excluded people are those barred from gambling premises, so the breach concerns who was allowed in rather than the games on offer1. The report does not state how the club operated during the suspension or what happened to members' access in that month1.
The GRA is the body that licenses and disciplines gambling in Singapore, having taken over from the CRA in August 20221. Its annual report is where these enforcement actions are published, so the same document is the place to check for future fines and suspensions1. For background on how suspensions and revocations work, see What Happens When a Gambling License Is Suspended or Revoked, and for how licensing bodies in the region are organized, see Gambling Regulators and Licenses in Asia: Who Licenses What and How to Check. General information on gambling in the country is in Can I Gamble in Singapore?.
What happens next
The Straits Times said it had asked the GRA for more details on the RWS breaches, and RWS declined to comment when contacted on Wednesday1. No further steps, appeals or follow-up enforcement have been reported1.
