Casinos collected $4.4m more than allowed in entry levies due to lapse

Due to a law that was not renewed, Singapore's two casinos collected about $4.4 million more than was legally allowed between April 4 and May 7, 2024.

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To enter casinos here, Singapore citizens and permanent residents previously needed to pay a daily entry levy of $100 or an annual entry levy of $2,000.

The levies were raised to $150 and $3,000, respectively, on April 4, 2019, after the Casino Control (Variation of Entry Levies) Order 2019 came into effect.

But the Order was valid for only five years, until April 3, 2024.

As the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) overlooked its expiry date, the casinos collected higher entry levies than were permitted by law between April 4 and May 7.

On Aug 6, MHA revealed the oversight in a press release regarding the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill, which was introduced in Parliament that day.

The ministry said it had always intended to maintain the higher entry levies beyond the five-year period, noting that the levies serve as a social safeguard to deter casual and impulse gambling.

But it said it had overlooked the expiry of the 2019 Order, causing the entry levies to revert to the lower rates on April 4.

In response to The Straits Times' queries, MHA said it discovered the lapse after an e-mail query from a member of the public in April.