Singapore Pools relaunches online sports, race betting

Singapore’s state-run gambling monopoly is relaunching its online sports and race betting offering following over two months of pandemic-related shutdown.

In early April, Singapore’s Ministry of Health responded to the city-state’s rising COVID-19 infection rates by imposing a ‘circuit breaker’ of social distancing measures. These not only impacted the two integrated resorts but also both retail and online operations of the Singapore Pools lottery and betting monopoly.

On Sunday, Singapore Pools announced that it would resume online sports betting on Monday while online betting on overseas horseracing would follow suit on Wednesday (17). Phone betting for both products will also be permitted. All retail operations will remain closed until the government signals it’s ready to include off-track betting outlets and lottery retailers in its phased economic reopening plan.

Despite the online reboot, lottery draws will remain suspended until further notice, likely due to the dodgy economics of an online-only operation that can only generate a small percentage of normal sales while still running the risk that one of these few online lottery players might still hit a major jackpot. Prize payment services also remain suspended until further notice.