Singapore will once again be offering online gambling by this October thanks to an exemption being made within the Remote Gambling Act. The Remote Gambling Act was put into play in Singapore back in February of last year and now the Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to make an exemption for two groups, Singapore Pools and the Singapore Turf Club.

On the 25th of October, the new account service from Singapore Pools will launch with lottery products such as Toto and 4D being offered. Formula 1 and football wagering will also be made available. The Turf Club will launch online betting later on, with a date set for the 15th of November. Turf Club will be offering an ITote platform.

The exemption for the two operators with the RGA will remain valid for a time frame of three years. Routine audits will take place as well as inspections of the companies to ensure the wagering sites are providing safeguards for players. This will include offering gambling limits, no credit wagering and daily funding limits. If the sites are found to be in violation of such regulations then a fine could be set for as much as $734,000 per offence. An offence can result in the exemption being revoked.

Bettors will have the option to set up an account for wagering online but must be verified at a retail outlet. Each account log-in will require two types of authentication. The mobile device of the account holder will have a one-time PIN that will be used for verification.

When the RGA was enacted, all online gambling sites were prohibited except for those that took the majority of their proceeds and donated them to charities as well as additional worthwhile causes socially. IP domains were blocked as well as payments for online gambling sites that did not meet this criteria.

Over the past few weeks, campaigns have popped up in an effort to stop the exemptions from taking place. This included the Workers’ Party hosting formal protests as well as a petition launched online that was able to receive more than 12,000 signatures. The government responded to such efforts by stating that a complete ban of online gambling would not work and it would drive activities underground. Thusly, threatening the ability of the government to protect those who have problem gambling issues.