Online gambling growing on the quiet

Online gambling has been growing on the quiet, with punters here placing bets on their smartphones while on the go, on their computers at home or even at work.

They visit websites to play poker and other casino games, or bet on the outcomes of sports matches - with no house rules, no casino levies, no bars to entry.

Last year, such online gambling sites raked in US$357.2 million (S$449 million) from punters here. The year before, the figure was US$312.49 million, and in 2009, it was US$271.58 million.

Simple arithmetic has the growth at a steady clip of about 15 per cent.

The numbers came from Britain-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC), which crunches the numbers for the global gaming industry.

And these are the numbers culled from tracking data of the gambling websites run by licensed operators alone; GBGC estimates that illegal operators made up to US$110 million here last year.

On Thursday, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) Chan Chun Sing tagged online gambling as 'an emerging concern'.

Speaking at an event to unveil the results of a gambling survey done by the National Council on Problem Gambling, he cited three reasons for worry:

Online gambling is hard to tackle;

It allows for continuous play; and

Access to it is as easy as reaching for one's smartphone.

The gambling survey, which polled 3,315 Singapore residents aged 18 and up, identified online gamblers as faring the worst among all gamblers in exercising self-control.

Up to a third of respondents said they gambled longer than they planned, bet more than they planned and turned to gambling more often than they planned.

Only up to 13 per cent of respondents felt the same way playing jackpot at local clubs, and only up to 21 per cent felt that way when they bet on horses.

Contacted on Friday, an MCYS spokesman said the fact that online gambling allows for continuous play and is accessible round the clock makes it 'a potentially highly addictive form of gambling'.

'There are also no casino staff or counsellors who may notice those who are in distress or gamble very excessively,' she said.

The fact that online gambling does not take place at a physical site makes it more difficult to implement social safeguards effectively, she added.

Sites popular with gamblers here are Betfair and Ladbrokes, where punters log in using credit cards to place bets on sports, casino games and poker.

But industry watchers say that many unlicensed sites let punters join in without having to fork out cash or to authorise a credit card deduction upfront.

This is how it works: Local bookies give punters - accepted only on recommendation through trusted contacts - free credit, a code and a website where they can place their bets.

Winnings and losses are settled face-to-face with the bookie or through bank transfers some days later. When settlement is not done, the bookie hounds for payment - or introduces the punter to a loan shark.

Reformed online gambling addict Thaddaeus Leow, 35, said bookies here typically give first-time punters credit of about $500. If they lose and pay up, larger sums of up to $15,000 are offered.

'They lure you in and when you start losing big, the bookie comes after you. When you can't pay, they will ask you to call their 'friend' - a loan shark,' said Mr Leow, who is now the coordinator for a gambling support group at Christian Care Services.

The center counsels at least one online gambler a week; back in 2009, it was only one a month, he said.

Gambling addiction support service Silver Lining counselled about 20 online gambling addicts last year.

Jolene Ong, its executive director, confirmed it is a growing problem and said the addicts are coming in younger - in their mid-20s and holding white-collar jobs.

A 51-year-old taxi driver, who wanted to be known only as John, knows what the fallout from addiction feels like.

It took him all of six months of playing casino games like baccarat and blackjack online to evaporate his life savings and rack up $200,000 in debt.

He said: 'It was easy because I couldn't see the dollars and cents disappearing. They were all just credits on the computer or cellphone.

'Gambling really destroyed my life, and now I've to earn back in years what I lost in months. And I have to make it up to my family.'