Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealed via a Tuesday press release that it had forgotten to renew a 2019 order increasing casino entry levies by 50%, resulting in entry levies reverting to their previous level for a little over a month throughout April and early May.
The revelation formed part of a broader announcement by the MHA in regard to the introduction of a new Casino Control (Amendment) Bill to parliament this week, which looks to strengthen a raft of laws related to the regulation of Singapore’s casinos.
Among the areas of focus are casino entry levies, with the MHA referencing the Casino Control (Variation of Entry Levies) Order 2019. The order, valid for five years, saw the daily levy for Singapore citizens and permanent residents increased from SG$100 to SG$150 and the annual level from SG$2,000 to SG$3,000, but expired on 4 April 2024.
According to the MHA, Singapore’s casinos (Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa) continued to collect the higher levy rate, resulting in SG$4.4 million being collected above the legislated entry levy rates.
“It was always the government’s intent to maintain the higher entry levies beyond the five-year period,” the MHA said.
“However, MHA had overlooked the expiry of the 2019 Order, and the entry levies automatically reverted to the lower rates on 4 April 2024.
“To address this, MHA introduced the Casino Control (Variation of Entry Levies) Order 2024 on 8 May 2024 to prospectively restore the daily levy at $150 and annual levy at $3,000.”
The MHA added that the amended Casino Control Act would regularise the higher entry levies collected from 4 April to 7 May 2024 in line with the government’s intent for introducing the higher entry levy rates in 2019.
“We have tightened our processes to avoid a repeat of such an incident,” it said.
The increased entry levies were introduced in 2019 at the same time as Singapore’s casinos were granted approval to embark on multi-billion dollar expansion projects which will include the addition of more gaming space.
