Singaporeans are very keen soccer bettors. Officially they are only allowed to bet with Singapore Pools, which is the government-run sports betting monopoly. Realistically though many Singaporeans bet with illegal bookmakers, either in person with betting agents or on the telephone with the numerous illegal betting houses in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, a short distance from Singapore.
Sports Betting in Singapore
Singaporeans are very keen soccer bettors. Officially they are only allowed to bet with Singapore Pools, which is the government-run sports betting monopoly. Realistically though many Singaporeans bet with illegal bookmakers, either in person with betting agents or on the telephone with the numerous illegal betting houses in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, a short distance from Singapore.
Singapore’s gamblers are particularly keen on betting on the English Premier League, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga as well as competitions such as the Champions League, UEFA Cup, European Championships and the World Cup.
Casinos in Singapore
For many years Singaporeans who wanted to visit a casino had two simple choices. One was to visit one of the illegal gambling dens around the city-state or to jump in a car and drive to the Genting Resort in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Recently the Singapore government finally realised that they might be better off legalising casino gambling and taking the tax revenues from it, rather than seeing their citizens go and spend their money in another country. Two casino licences were put up for bid, one in a central location and one on the island of Sentosa. The central location licence was, somewhat surprisingly, won by Las Vegas Sands group while the second licence was awarded to Genting Resorts.
In January 2007 the London Financial Times reported that the Singapore authorities were considering removing the Sentosa licence from Genting Resorts because they had sold an equity stake in the project to gambling tycoon Stanley Ho.
Horseracing in Singapore
Horseracing in Singapore is run by the Singapore Turf Club. Racing in the city state started in 1843, following the formation of the Singapore Sporting Club a year earlier. In 1924 the club changed its name to the Singapore Turf Club. Until 1960 racing was restricted to owners and members of the club but after that point paying members were allowed to go racing. In 1988 the Singapore Totalisator Board took control of all horseracing betting within Singapore.
Singapore’s racecourse is called Kranji, located about 20 kilometres north of the city centre. It occupies 81.2 hectares and holds a peak crowd of 30,000 people.
The main race of the year is the Singapore Airlines International Cup, which is worth S$3 million to the winner.
