In a rather bizarre, and it would certainly appear a not very successful attempt to deter what the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Social and Family Development in Singapore call impulsive and casual gambling, citizens of that island city-state must pay to enter casinos based there.
Not only are locally born and bred citizens required to pay a casino entry fee, but anybody that has moved there and is a registered permanent resident is also required to pay to gain entry in the local casinos.
In fact, the entry fee has just been increased from S$100 per day to S$150 per day, which in different currencies works out at around £85, €99 and US$110 respectively.
That increase in entry fees certainly hasn’t put off locals from visiting the casinos based there, and each day a huge number of them do choose to gamble at, for example, the Marina Bay Sands Casino.
The idea of paying to enter a casino to gamble is of course completely alien to most players in other parts of thee world, but fortunately visitors and holidaymakers to Singapore are not required to pay a casino entry fee.
What is surprising though, given the fact that entry fee is supposed to deter casual and impulsive gambling by locals, is that they can buy an annual pass that will save them money, and that too has just been increased from S$2000 to S$3000.
Surely if they want to deter causal gambling by locals then they shouldn’t be offering a discounted rate for those that purchase an annual pass, but then again it is certainly a good way of ensuring only those with the means of gambling are given access to a casino, and will deter those people who simply want to loiter inside such a venue.
