Remote Gambling Act: Clarifications on the Scope of Social Games

​The Remote Gambling Act 2014 (“Act”) was passed in October 2014. It will come into effect on 2 Feb 2015. The Act regulates remote gambling activities in Singapore, in order to maintain law and order and minimise the potential harm of remote gambling, especially to young and other vulnerable persons. 

There have been concerns expressed that the Act would cover all social games and therefore affect the development of the gaming industry in Singapore. The Second Minister for Home Affairs, Mr S Iswaran, explained in Parliament on 7 October 2014 that this is not the intent of the Act.  The Act does not target games which do not allow players to convert in-game credits to money or real merchandise. The Act thus will not cover social games such as Farmville and Candy Crush Saga in their current forms.  However, the Act will prohibit casino-style games which give players a chance to win money or real-world merchandise. Minister Iswaran’s speech is available here.

Following the passage of the Act, MDA has met and discussed the provisions in the Act with members of the gaming industry. MDA wishes to reiterate that the Act does not cover games which do not, as part of the game design, enable players to receive money or money’s worth consequent to the outcome of that game. Therefore, the following types of games will not be covered by the Act:

• Games which do not allow players to win, through an in-game facility, money or real-world merchandise which can be exchanged for money;

• Games which allow players to purchase or exchange game credits or tokens, but do not provide in-game facility to convert these game credits or tokens to money or real-world merchandise which can be exchanged for money;

• Games which allow players to purchase, gain or exchange game enhancement features, e.g. weapons, skills, but do not provide in-game facility to convert these game enhancement features to money or real-world merchandise which can be exchanged for money; and

• Games which rank players but do not provide in-game facility to convert these ranking positions to money or real-world merchandise which can be exchanged for money, such as Tower of Saviors and 2Fuse in their current form.

MDA also received questions about whether the Act would prohibit leader-boards, which rank and reward top players, or tournaments organised by game developers or promoters where players can win real-world prizes, such as League of Legends in its current form. As a general rule, the Act does not prohibit mechanisms to reward players for their skill, provided that these are not within casino-style games or are not used as a means of facilitating syndicated criminal activity.

MDA notes that the Act will not impede the development of legitimate social media gaming businesses and will continue working with the gaming industry to ensure its continued growth and development.