Companies encouraging workers to apply for casino exclusion orders
by Ong Dai Lin
04:45 AM Jul 07, 2011
SINGAPORE - At one company, workers occasionally absent themselves from work to visit the casinos. In another, a worker borrows money from his colleagues when he loses money at the tables.
Following the change of rules last November to make it easier for foreign workers to apply for a casino exclusion order, some companies in the construction industry, which traditionally have a high proportion of foreign workers, have asked their workers to sign up for one.
The rules were changed when the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) began to allow foreigners to make applications for self-exclusion by filling up an application form instead of having to appear with a witness at its office and file manual applications.
The administrative manager of construction company DHdeco, Ms Anna Tan, told MediaCorp that its company started asking its foreign workers to voluntarily sign up for the exclusion order after it conducted a talk on gambling addiction.
However, after observing that workers continued to be absent to spend time at the tables, the company told its foreign workers that, if they repeated the act in future, a "one-way ticket back home" would be given to them instead of just a warning letter, said Ms Tan.
"We have a dormitory and we don't want staff to start stealing or borrowing from fellow workers. So many problems will come up if workers are addicted to gambling," added Ms Tan.
So far, half of its 70 foreign workers have signed up for the exclusion orders.
Another firm, HEC Electrical & Construction, has encouraged its 200 foreign workers to sign up.
"We have heard a lot of rumours that a lot of foreign workers are going to the casinos … and one of our workers was in very bad shape. He would get his family in China to remit money over to pay his gambling debts," said the company's finance and human resource manager, Ms Eliza Fong.
She added that the company has been mindful that workers who have financial problems may pilfer company assets to feed their addiction, such as not delivering valuable materials like concrete mix to the site but selling them for money instead.
Only three workers have refused to sign up because "they claim they don't gamble and only go into the casinos for a drink and visit friends", said Ms Fong.
Though Hup Fatt Brothers Engineering has not seen problems of gambling addiction among its staff, it has managed to encourage 50 per cent of its 100 foreign workers to apply for self-exclusion orders.
Said its assistant manager, Ms Usha Rani: "We foresee gambling as a problem because of the large number of foreign workers going to casinos here."
by Ong Dai Lin
04:45 AM Jul 07, 2011
SINGAPORE - At one company, workers occasionally absent themselves from work to visit the casinos. In another, a worker borrows money from his colleagues when he loses money at the tables.
Following the change of rules last November to make it easier for foreign workers to apply for a casino exclusion order, some companies in the construction industry, which traditionally have a high proportion of foreign workers, have asked their workers to sign up for one.
The rules were changed when the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) began to allow foreigners to make applications for self-exclusion by filling up an application form instead of having to appear with a witness at its office and file manual applications.
The administrative manager of construction company DHdeco, Ms Anna Tan, told MediaCorp that its company started asking its foreign workers to voluntarily sign up for the exclusion order after it conducted a talk on gambling addiction.
However, after observing that workers continued to be absent to spend time at the tables, the company told its foreign workers that, if they repeated the act in future, a "one-way ticket back home" would be given to them instead of just a warning letter, said Ms Tan.
"We have a dormitory and we don't want staff to start stealing or borrowing from fellow workers. So many problems will come up if workers are addicted to gambling," added Ms Tan.
So far, half of its 70 foreign workers have signed up for the exclusion orders.
Another firm, HEC Electrical & Construction, has encouraged its 200 foreign workers to sign up.
"We have heard a lot of rumours that a lot of foreign workers are going to the casinos … and one of our workers was in very bad shape. He would get his family in China to remit money over to pay his gambling debts," said the company's finance and human resource manager, Ms Eliza Fong.
She added that the company has been mindful that workers who have financial problems may pilfer company assets to feed their addiction, such as not delivering valuable materials like concrete mix to the site but selling them for money instead.
Only three workers have refused to sign up because "they claim they don't gamble and only go into the casinos for a drink and visit friends", said Ms Fong.
Though Hup Fatt Brothers Engineering has not seen problems of gambling addiction among its staff, it has managed to encourage 50 per cent of its 100 foreign workers to apply for self-exclusion orders.
Said its assistant manager, Ms Usha Rani: "We foresee gambling as a problem because of the large number of foreign workers going to casinos here."
