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SINGAPORE – 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. 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 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. The ministry said it will continue to conduct regular reviews of laws under its purview to ensure they remain up to date. “In addition, we will also review our internal tracking process to minimise such incidents from occurring in the future,” it said. MHA introduced a new Order on May 8 to restore the daily and annual levies to the higher rates. The Casino Control (Amendment) Bill also proposes to state the higher levies in the main law governing casino operations here – the Casino Control Act. Another intent of the Bill is to validate the higher entry levies collected during the one-month lapse, meaning the money will be deemed as validly collected. No legal proceedings may be instituted on or after Aug 6, 2024, regarding the sums collected during the one-month period, stated the amendment. In response to ST’s queries on what will happen to the extra levies collected, MHA said all entry levies collected by a casino operator are paid to the Tote Board. According to the Casino Control Act, the entry levies must be used for public, social or charitable purposes in Singapore. MHA said it does not intend to refund any part of the entry levies collected during the lapse, as it was always its intention to continue with the higher entry levies until there was a need to further adjust the rates. Separately, the ministry said the number of Singapore citizens and permanent residents who visited the casinos in 2023 constituted only around 3 per cent of the Singapore adult population. Overall, the probable problem and pathological gambling rates among Singapore residents have been low and stable at about 1 per cent, said MHA. It added: “There are no plans to increase the entry levy for now. We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of our social safeguards, and make changes when necessary.” Singapore Management University law don and former Nominated MP Eugene Tan said such lapses are rare. He said it was necessary to validate the extra levies collected, because without the validation, the casinos would have to return the extra levies to each casino patron. Laws which apply retroactively can be enacted as long as they do not compromise anybody’s rights, said the law expert. Said Associate Professor Tan: “I think it would be quite difficult for a casino patron to say that his rights have been unjustly compromised during the period (when higher entry levies were collected). “It was a procedural lapse, not a case of the authorities blatantly acting without authorisation. The clear legislative and policy intent since 2019 was for higher entry levies to apply.”