Singapore’s holy shit anti-gambling bill: a huge step back for the games industry

Singapore’s recently-read Remote Gambling Bill may change its gaming ecosystem’s fate for good. In summary, the bill’s broad definitions of gambling, and its defining terms “game of chance” and “money’s worth” will essentially put any developer with the gashapon feature in its game at risk of being persecuted.

The gashapon feature is a method of monetization commonly used in many free-to-play games, where the player exchanges in-game or premium currency for a chance to receive a rare item or card.

Singapore law firm Stamford Law broke the bill down into its most alarming components for members of the game industry this afternoon.

Gambling, as defined by the bill, is “playing a game of chance for money or money’s worth”. The “game of chance” phrase is defined as any game that involves both an element of chance and an element of skill—pretty much any freemium game with a gasha feature. Money’s worth, on the other hand, is defined as virtual objects, like coins, tokens, credits, or anything similar that is purchased within the game, as part of the game, or in relation to the game — again, pretty much any in-app purchase.

This, according to Stamford Law, will “outlaw the freemium model where monetization is primarily via in-app purchases”, and does not specify from whom the purchases of virtual objects are made. This means that both game developers, who sell in-app purchases, and players, who make these in-app purchases, can be persecuted.

The bill has a second reading scheduled for October 7. But if little is done to narrow its definitions, then gaming in Singapore will take a huge step backward. A report from leading law firm Rajah & Tann on the Singapore legal news website Singapore Law Watch reveals that even foreign developers who publish games with a gasha element in the Singapore market will not be spared.

Singapore-based studios that publish freemium games with a gashapon element outside of Singapore could also be charged. You can read the full report here. But the long and short of it is: if this Remote Gambling Bill goes into effect as it is right now, and you so much as publish an advertisement of your game-with-a-gasha-feature that’s seen by someone overseas, you can be charged.

In its present state, this ridiculous bill also grants police officers, public officers, and employees of the Media Development Authority of Singapore to storm, without notice, studios and offices of developers “reasonably suspected” of flouting the law.

Holy shit.

Someone in Parliament had better stop this law from being passed next week, or Singapore is going to run the risk of being left far, far behind in the burgeoning games industry.