Singapore Expands Casino Rules as Electronic Gaming Credits Gain Legal Status

Singapore has brought a new package of casino regulations into force, formally recognising electronic credits as casino chips while expanding regulatory powers over gaming software, future betting products, financial crime controls and player protection.

Singapore has implemented the second tranche of amendments to its Casino Control framework, with the new provisions taking effect on September 21, 2026.

The reforms expand the powers of the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) as Singapore prepares its casino regime for changes in technology and player behaviour. The regulator can now oversee betting and lotteries offered inside casinos in addition to traditional games of chance, although the government says there are currently no plans to introduce such products.

One of the most significant changes concerns cashless gambling. New regulations formally prescribe electronic credits as casino chips, allowing the legal framework to cover wagers funded through approved cashless gaming accounts or similar systems rather than only physical chips. The government has said cryptocurrencies are not intended to be permitted as casino chips because of money-laundering concerns.

The GRA can also approve gaming software separately from dedicated gaming machines. This could include software running on commercially available devices such as tablets. However, any such system would require regulatory approval and could only be deployed and played within casino premises, meaning the amendment does not legalise remote online casino gambling from outside the resorts.

Financial-crime controls have also been strengthened. Singapore's casino operators must now share relevant patron information with each other when necessary to address risks related to money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing. The government says the measure should allow operators to act more quickly when a customer is identified as presenting elevated financial-crime risk.

The amendments introduce new casino-related offences as well. It is now specifically illegal to withdraw a wager after the outcome of a game is already known, while restrictions on recording games have been extended beyond card games to cover activities such as gaming machines.

Singapore has also tightened safeguards for vulnerable gamblers. Breaching a Family Visit Limit is now a criminal offence, while the National Council on Problem Gambling can immediately replace an exclusion order with a visit limit — or impose a stricter exclusion in place of a visit limit — without leaving a gap in protection during the administrative process.

The latest measures complete another stage of a reform programme first passed by Parliament in 2024. Rather than significantly expanding the types of gambling currently available, the changes are designed primarily to give regulators tools for future gaming technologies while strengthening casino integrity, financial controls and safeguards against gambling-related harm.