Singapore casinos face tougher regulations to prevent terrorism financing, money laundering

Casinos in Singapore will soon face tighter rules on conducting due diligence checks when receiving cash, as part of updated measures to counter terrorism financing.

Due diligence checks will have to be carried out when casinos receive a cash deposit of S$4,000 (US$2,950) or more into a customer’s account – down from the current threshold of S$5,000.

This is the first revision to the threshold. It would be implemented this year, although authorities did not state when exactly the new requirements would kick in.

“The adjustment is made so that Singapore casinos can better combat money laundering and terrorism financing and align our requirements with FATF standards,” the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) said on Monday.

FATF, the Financial Action Task Force, is a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog.

In December 2023, Resorts World Sentosa was fined S$2.25 million for failing to do such checks, the biggest penalty imposed by GRA on a casino operator.

The new threshold for due diligence checks was among the measures laid out in Singapore’s updated National Strategy for Countering the Financing of Terrorism, jointly published on Monday by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The updated report was published along with the Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment.

A recent report – the Money Laundering National Risk Assessment – stated that the lowering of the threshold would align with the standards of FATF.

The authorities said that Singapore’s openness as an international financial, business and transport hub may be exploited for the purposes of financing terrorism activities.

As the global terrorism landscape evolves, so will