Singapore’s anti-gambling bill “will not affect video games”

Singapore’s purported gashapon-slaying Remote Gambling Bill has been passed, but things aren’t as bad as they originally seemed.

Singapore’s Second Minister for Home Affairs, S. Iswaran, has said that the bill will not affect video games as long as players cannot convert in-game credits or tokens for money or real merchandise outside the game.

However he also finished that statement off with an ominous emphasis on the need for broad laws. “What may be benign today may appear more sinister tomorrow,” Iswaran was quoted by the Straits Times as saying.

The bill was passed in spite of a debate involving ten members of Parliament (MP) that stretched for over three hours. A number of these MPs had expressed their reservations against the allowance for exemptions, and one even questioned if exemptions would send mixed signals by “legitimising the act of gambling and breeding its acceptance by legally providing for exempt licensed operators.”

While it doesn’t yet appear that the Remote Gambling Bill will affect the gaming industry, there is a possibility of it becoming relevant as game developers dream up of more monetization methods. Some games we’ve seen are already trying to offer real-money incentives via their player-versus-player modes, as is the case with Taiwan’s indie soccer game offering, Loco Soccer.

Loco Soccer, submitted as a tip to Games in Asia during the World Cup season earlier this year, has a “Play for Cash” mode, where players are able to hand over an entry fee for a chance to participate in a contest with a larger payout—exactly what is defined as “playing a game of chance for money or money’s worth.” That means that under this new law, Loco Soccer’s monetization is illegal.

There are no games developed in Singapore immediately guilty of this. Most developers are still using tried-and-tested methods like the gashapon monetization feature, in-app purchases, or working with ad models. So you don’t have to worry about the Media Development Authority or any police officers breaking your studio doors down…yet.

(via The Straits Times, cover image source)

What the bill really encompasses: