Organized crime charges for Singapore online gambling ring

Singapore authorities have issued their first gambling-related criminal charges under the city-state’s new organized crime laws.

One year ago, the Singapore Police Force announced the arrest of dozens of individuals connected with an illegal online gambling operation. It was the first such action local authorities had taken since the city-state authorized legal online gambling activity by the Singapore Pools and Turf Club monopolies.

Multiple members of the illegal online gambling operation had already been charged with illegal gambling offenses under the Remote Gambling Act, which the city-state approved in 2015 and which paved the way for the legal online betting options.

But Wednesday saw Singapore’s Criminal Investigation Department announce that it had filed additional charges against six of the arrested individuals – one woman and five men, including the alleged ringleader Seet Seo Boon – under the new Organized Crime Act (OCA), which took effect in June 2016.