Family Exclusion Orders for Casinos

If someone in your family is gambling in a way that is causing harm, you may be able to stop them entering casinos, even if they do not agree. Several jurisdictions in Asia have formal schemes that let a relative apply for what is usually called a family exclusion order, or in some places a third party exclusion.

The strongest and best-known scheme is in Singapore. There, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) can ban a person from the country's two casinos, Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, on the application of a family member¹. The application is free, it can be made online, and the order lasts at least a year and stays in force until it is formally revoked⁶.

Elsewhere the mechanics differ. In Vietnam and Macau, the scheme works as a request to the casino operator or regulator rather than a formal tribunal order, but the effect is the same: the person is barred from playing². In the Philippines, PAGCOR runs a family exclusion program with its own application form and fixed time periods³. Japan's casino law obliges operators to restrict use of the casino when the entrant or their family asks⁵.

If you are worried about a relative's gambling but are not sure whether it has reached this point, the pages on signs a family member has a gambling problem and help for families of gamblers are a good place to start.

What the law says

Singapore

Singapore's Casino Control Act 2006 sets out the family exclusion order in Part 10. The idea is simple: if a person's gambling has caused serious harm to their family, a family member can ask the NCPG to ban or limit that person's visits to the casino⁷. The council can also impose a Family Visit Limit instead of a full ban, which caps the number of visits rather than stopping them entirely⁷.

Alongside the family exclusion order, the same law provides two related orders that do not need a family application at all:

• A Third-Party Exclusion Order, which the NCPG can impose on its own initiative, without anyone applying, on people with a poor credit record or who are vulnerable to financial harm because of their gambling⁷.
• An Exclusion Order by Law, which applies automatically to undischarged bankrupts and people on government social assistance, without any application or tribunal decision⁷.

The Gambling Control Act 2022, which governs gambling in Singapore more broadly, uses the term "excluded person" to cover anyone subject to a family exclusion order, a provisional family exclusion order, a third party exclusion order, an exclusion by law, a self-exclusion or an entry ban⁸. So a person under a family exclusion order is treated the same as any other excluded person for the purposes of the wider gambling rules.

The application itself can be made by or on behalf of a person below 21 years of age, which means a parent can apply to exclude a child who is old enough to enter the casino but still young⁹.

Macau

Macau's Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ) runs the exclusion system. Under its exclusion measures, an individual can apply to exclude themselves from the casinos, and a spouse, an ascendant, a descendant, or a family member within the second degree of kinship by blood can request that someone be excluded⁴. The applicant can choose whether the exclusion covers all casinos of fortune or only some of them, naming any operators to be left out¹⁰.

Vietnam

Vietnam handles family exclusion through its casino decrees. Under Decree 06/2017/ND-CP, a person may be barred from playing at a casino at the request of themselves or of a close relative with full civil act capacity: a father, adoptive father, mother, adoptive mother, wife, husband or biological child¹¹. The request is filed with the casino operator. A draft decree on casino business carries the same rule forward, and from November 26, 2025 the same condition applies to Vietnamese nationals entering licensed casinos¹².

Philippines

PAGCOR, the state gaming regulator and operator, provides patrons who feel that relatives or they themselves are developing a problem with gaming the option of barring them from the gaming venue or site³. Regardless of where the application was made, the self-exclusion order is enforced in all PAGCOR operated and regulated gaming facilities³.

Japan

Japan's integrated resort legislation takes a different approach. Rather than a tribunal order, the law obliges casino operators to restrict a visitor's use of the casino facility at the request of the visitor or of family members or other related persons⁵. The operator's dependency-prevention rules must set out how this works in practice¹⁴. The same principle appears in the Diet's record of the law: all entrants are covered, and use of the casino can be restricted on the request of the entrant or their family¹⁵.

Japan's betting circuits have gone further. In keirin (cycle racing), a subscriber subject to a family exclusion application can submit their opinions to the governing body within 30 days of being notified, which gives the excluded person a formal chance to respond before the exclusion is finalized¹⁶.

How to apply

In Singapore, the route is as follows:

1. Go to the NCPG website and use the online application for a Family Exclusion Order or Family Visit Limit¹⁷.
2. NCPG assesses whether the person's gambling has caused serious harm to the family⁶.
3. If the order is made, it lasts at least one year and remains in force until it is successfully revoked¹⁷.
4. To revoke, apply after at least one year on the safeguard, showing a substantial change in the relevant circumstances since the order was made¹⁸.

Marina Bay Sands publishes its own summary of the scheme for patrons, confirming that the application is free and that each order is valid for at least one year¹⁷.

In the Philippines:

1. Download PAGCOR's Family Exclusion Application Form (Form GLDD-890, Revision 6, effective August 24, 2026).
2. Submit it to PAGCOR. The order takes effect and is enforced irrevocably for the first three months¹⁹.
3. After the first three months, the relative may re-apply for another six months; if not, the order is lifted automatically. Subsequent re-applications are on a yearly basis¹⁹.
4. Questions can go to PAGCOR's responsible gaming email, ResponsibleGaming@pagcor.ph, or its responsible gaming helpline²⁰.

In Macau and Vietnam, the route is a request rather than a form-heavy tribunal process. In Macau, contact the DICJ, which administers the exclusion measures and publishes the application forms⁴. In Vietnam, the request is filed with the casino operator itself, under the decree rules on who may be barred¹¹.

Who it applies to

Who counts as "family" depends on where you are. The table below sums up who can apply in each jurisdiction.

A few points worth noting:

• In Singapore, the family member must show that the person's gambling has caused serious harm to the family; it is not enough simply to disapprove of the habit⁶.
• In Vietnam, the relative must have full civil act capacity, which in practice means being an adult without a legal incapacity¹¹.
• In Singapore, an application can also be made on behalf of someone below 21, so a parent can act for a young adult child⁹.
• The excluded person does not need to consent in any of these jurisdictions. That is what distinguishes a family exclusion order from a self-exclusion, which is voluntary.

Penalties and enforcement

An exclusion order only works if there is a consequence for breaking it, and in the jurisdictions covered here there is.

In Singapore, a casino-excluded person who knows, or ought reasonably to know, that they are excluded must not enter or remain on casino premises or take part in any casino gambling or promotional game there. Doing so is an offense²². The one exception is a person excluded only by their own voluntary self-exclusion or a voluntary visit limit, who is handled differently under the rules²³. Casino operators are required to bar excluded persons at the door and remove them from the premises, and winnings can be forfeited²⁴.

In Macau, the stakes are higher. A person who breaches an exclusion order, including their own confirmed self-exclusion, commits the ordinary crime of disobedience under the Penal Code, punishable with up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of up to 120 days, and this applies to entering the casino whether or not the person actually gambles²⁵.

In the Philippines, PAGCOR's exclusion orders are enforced across all of its operated and regulated gaming facilities, so a person excluded at one venue cannot simply move to another³.

The practical risk for the excluded person is therefore real: entering a casino while under a family exclusion order can mean a fine, prosecution or forfeiture of winnings, depending on the country.

What is legal and licensed

Family exclusion orders only bite where licensed gambling exists, so it helps to know what each scheme actually covers.

Singapore has exactly two licensed casinos, Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, and that is what a Family Exclusion Order covers¹. The order does not stop the person gambling elsewhere, such as with Singapore Pools, although Singapore Pools account holders must confirm they are not subject to a family exclusion order under the Casino Control Act when they open an account²⁷. If you want to block online gambling too, a blocking app such as Gamban covers more ground than a casino-only order.

Macau's exclusion covers the casinos of fortune, and the applicant chooses the scope: all of them, or a named subset¹⁰.

Vietnam's rule applies at licensed casino business points, which since late November 2025 include the casinos that Vietnamese nationals may enter under the entry conditions¹³.

In the Philippines, PAGCOR's order covers all PAGCOR operated and regulated gaming facilities, which is a wide net: the state firm runs casinos, gaming sites and licensed venues across the country³.

Japan's scheme covers casino facilities at integrated resorts, and the law there also allows Japanese residents to enter under limits, with the government required to take steps such as setting who besides foreign visitors may be admitted⁵.

What it means for visitors and expats

Most of these schemes are aimed at local residents, but the rules do not always stop at citizenship.

In Singapore, the Family Exclusion Order applies to the two casinos regardless of who is playing in them, and the casinos are open to visitors as well as locals, subject to the entry levy of S$150 per day for citizens and permanent residents²⁸. An expat family living in Singapore can apply to the NCPG in the same way as a citizen can, and the council's services, including counseling and application help, are open to all²⁹. NCPG also publishes brochures explaining the Family Exclusion Order and Family Visit Limit for anyone considering an application³⁰.

In Macau, the DICJ exclusion system is open to family members of anyone gambling in the casinos, and the application forms are published on the bureau's website¹⁰.

In Vietnam, the family-request rule is written into the conditions for Vietnamese nationals entering casinos, so it applies to local players rather than foreign visitors¹³. Foreigners playing at Vietnamese casinos are not covered by this particular bar.

In Japan, the operator's obligation to restrict use at a family member's request covers all entrants to the casino facility, and the entry rules reach Japanese residents as well as foreign visitors, so an overseas family member's request is within the scheme's scope¹⁴.

In South Korea, most casinos are for foreigners only, as at the Hyatt Regency in Jeju, so a family exclusion request from a Korean relative is largely beside the point there; the local-casino rules are separate³¹.

If you are an expat or visitor worried about a relative back home, note that these orders are territorial: a Singapore Family Exclusion Order bars the person from Singapore's casinos, not from casinos in Macau or Manila. For cross-border concerns, the pages on gambling help for expats and visitors and gambling helplines across Asia list where to call.