Hi guys... sorry I need an answer, not too sure how the system works over here and the police force ain't helpful at all...
MY QUERY to THE POLICE:
Hi,
Is it legal to play poker within the confines of my place (a private apartment), along with a group of friends, coupled with gaming chips, which are exchangeable for real money, on an occasional basis?
Regards,
Keith
THEIR REPLY:
Dear Sir
We refer to your email of 14 December 2010.
The Police do not give legal advice. The police only gives advice if an
incident has been reported and to determine if the matter require police
action/attention.
Thank you and regards.
Yours faithfully
That's a very sound advice.
The government can't be coming after the person since it has pocketed some money, in various forms such as GST, taxes, fees etc
Hi guys... sorry I need an answer, not too sure how the system works over here and the police force ain't helpful at all...
MY QUERY to THE POLICE:
Hi,
Is it legal to play poker within the confines of my place (a private apartment), along with a group of friends, coupled with gaming chips, which are exchangeable for real money, on an occasional basis?
Regards,
Keith
THEIR REPLY:
Dear Sir
We refer to your email of 14 December 2010.
The Police do not give legal advice. The police only gives advice if an
incident has been reported and to determine if the matter require police
action/attention.
Thank you and regards.
Yours faithfully
Since everyone is struggling to answer the question, I will point the way. The answer is no. You can play in your home, use money as bets etc. The max is 2 tables. It only becomes an issue if you collect money to organise it, and it is open to people who are not your friends. Neighbours tend to call the police when people take up parking spots, make noise or you allow your house to be used as a club. Poker is played amongst many people across the island including sr civil servants, professionals, businessmen etc. The police have better things to do as there arenumerous gambling dens all the time springing up
Since everyone is struggling to answer the question, I will point the way. The answer is no. You can play in your home, use money as bets etc. The max is 2 tables. It only becomes an issue if you collect money to organise it, and it is open to people who are not your friends. Neighbours tend to call the police when people take up parking spots, make noise or you allow your house to be used as a club. Poker is played amongst many people across the island including sr civil servants, professionals, businessmen etc. The police have better things to do as there arenumerous gambling dens all the time springing up
The police have better things to do as there arenumerous gambling dens all the time springing up
True until the two casinos started operations. Undeground gamblers frequent the casinos today when they have money. When invited to visit underground dens, they say it is very dangerous - police will arrest. When they run out of money, they visit the underground dens. They are able to borrow. This time, you won't get to hear them expressing their fear of arrest.
2 months ago, only 3 underground dens were in operation. According to one of the operator, no need for police to raid their dens. They die a natural death. No business.
MY QUERY to THE POLICE:
Hi,
Is it legal to play poker within the confines of my place (a private apartment), along with a group of friends, coupled with gaming chips, which are exchangeable for real money, on an occasional basis?
Regards,
Keith
THEIR REPLY:
Dear Sir
We refer to your email of 14 December 2010.
The Police do not give legal advice. The police only gives advice if an
incident has been reported and to determine if the matter require police
action/attention.
Thank you and regards.
Yours faithfully
Show me which part of the law provide you with such allowance.
Golden Dragon, there are many cases in which CGHs are defined, even as early as 1930, in R v Fong Cheng Cheng. PP v Yap Ah Yoon and PP v Low Ah Kow are particularly instructive. Both are Yong Pung How decisions.
1 [2062] BETTING, GAMING AND LOTTERY Gaming – 'Common gaming house', meaning of – Evidence required to rebut presumption in s 17 of the Common Gaming Houses Act (Cap 49) – Whether private residence used primarily for gaming
Summary :
On 31 July 1989 a police raid was carried out at 30B Yio Chu Kang Road ('the premises'), where the eight accused persons were playing mahjong. Chips exchangeable for money were used as stakes. The prosecution adduced evidence that mahjong games had been observed to be in progress at the premises on three separate occasions, on 4 June, 8 June and 2 July 1989, and that on two of those occasions the people entering the premises had been different from the people coming out. Further, the accused had, in their statements made under s 122(5) and (6) of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68) ('the CPC'), referred to the premises as a gambling den and all admitted to the charge. At the trial the accused denied liability, alleging that they had gone to the premises to celebrate a birthday party and so were playing for fun. The learned magistrate rejected the defence and had found that all the accused had gone to the premises to play mahjong. However, the magistrate acquitted the accused on the grounds that the premises were not a common gaming house as defined in s 2(1) of the Common Gaming Houses Act (Cap 49) ('the Act'). The prosecution appealed.
Holding :
Held, allowing the appeal:
(1) it is not illegal to play games of chance for money. But it is illegal to keep a common gaming house or to game in it. A common gaming house is either a place to which the general public is able to resort for the purpose of gaming, or a place which, though barred to the public, is kept or used by the owners or occupiers primarily for the purpose of gaming;
(2) nor do the premises of an ordinary social club become a common gaming house merely because the club provides facilities for its members to gamble, and some of them habitually use the premises for that purpose;
(3) the distinction is between a bona fide social or recreation club, and one which is used ostensibly as such but which is in reality kept and used for gaming purposes;
(4) all other activities of the club must be taken into account. The conduct of activities which are not related to gaming, provided they are of sufficient scale and frequency, would be inconsistent with the assertion that the primary object of the club was gaming and tend to disprove the presumed fact;
(5) with respect to a private residence, the question must be whether it is in reality used as a private residence or it is in fact, behind the facade of a personal dwelling, primarily kept for gaming;
(6) the evidence required to rebut the presumption in s 17 of the Act would be evidence that any gaming on the premises was of the kind that owners or occupiers of private residential properties usually engage in, if they engage in it at all. There are numerous factors which may be relevant: the relationship between the persons gaming and the owner or occupier of the premises as well as between the persons inter se, whether the owner or occupier is usually involved in the gaming sessions, the frequency of the gaming sessions, how the sessions were organized, whether the sessions involved the same persons, the stakes involved and so on. None of the factors are conclusive single-handedly. It is up to the court to draw the logical and natural inference by a consideration of all the pertinent factors in a particular case;
(7) a place does not become a gaming house merely because the owner makes a practice of inviting his friends to his house to gamble;the presumption in s 17 of the Act would be rebutted if it is shown that the provision of gaming facilities was purely incidental to the primary object of the club, even if a substantial part of its revenue was derived from such gaming;in the present case, the evidence that the premises were furnished like an ordinary household and were not specially adapted to be conducive for gaming, though not entirely irrelevant, was clearly insufficient evidence to rebut the presumption in s 17.
Digest :
Public Prosecutor v Yap Ah Yoon & Ors [1993] 3 SLR 763 High Court, Singapore (Yong Pung How CJ).
2063 Gaming -- Common gaming house
scroobal,
You got this very bad habit of getting personal with people who disagreed with your views. From where you have came from, it is not very difficult for me to understand why. Before i even want to engage you further on this thread, pls prove that i am an ex-cop and perhaps on that part that suggested i am highly educated.
are there any poker games at the 2 casinos? i don't see poker card games mentioned on the websites. over in reno and vegas, texas hold'em and pai gow poker have several tables per casino. there are poker rooms dedicated to 2/4, 5/10, 10/25 and no limit pots.
Golden Dragon is correct to say that the answer is contained in the Common Gaming Houses Act. The other conjectures about water money, two table limit, etc, all quite incorrect.
If you look at the Act, there are two distinct types of offences : gambling in public under section 7 (not relevant here) and gambling in a common gaming house under section 8.
Common gaming house is defined in section 1, inter alia, as a place kept for habitual gaming. Therefore, private premises which are homes, offices, warehouses, club premises, etc, are usually not considered CGHs. The important factor is the primary use of the premises.
Golden Dragon, there are many cases in which CGHs are defined, even as early as 1930, in R v Fong Cheng Cheng. PP v Yap Ah Yoon and PP v Low Ah Kow are particularly instructive. Both are Yong Pung How decisions.
As for the game, it does not matter if it's mahjong, poker or bridge. Section 1 defines gaming as playing a game of mixed skill and chance for money or money's worth.
Golden Dragon is correct to say that the answer is contained in the Common Gaming Houses Act. The other conjectures about water money, two table limit, etc, all quite incorrect.
If you look at the Act, there are two distinct types of offences : gambling in public under section 7 (not relevant here) and gambling in a common gaming house under section 8.
C