Barred here? I'll go to Genting
Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012
Mention the word "curbs" along with casinos and it's guaranteed to raise brows of concern and worry among heartlanders.
As with my earlier Ground Zero column on gambling in July, they repeat the same refrain: "Don't treat us with kid gloves."
Don't get them wrong, because most of those I approached actually applaud the initiatives to curb gambling habits.
Indeed, 36 out of 42 heartlanders this correspondent spoke to this week admit to being gamblers at heart, and they say they can accept the more stringent social safeguards to keep some people out of the casinos.
The amended Casino Control Bill will require the two Integrated Resorts to do more in the area of promoting responsible gambling, alongside Government measures of imposing visit limits on the financially vulnerable.
Casinos are now required to draw up a responsible gambling programme based on best practices elsewhere. The Casino Regulatory Authority will need to approve it and the Authority will be further empowered to audit these measures to gauge their effectiveness, said Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran on Friday.
Heartlanders like Mr Neo Aik Liang, 55, put it succinctly: The measures are good, as long as they don't affect him.
"I don't like the idea of visit limits. I don't think we should be nannied," he says.
You see, Mr Neo does not think he belongs to the "financially vulnerable" - and he does not want to reveal exactly what he earns. But he is a frequent gambler, having paid the annual entry levy to both casinos.
"I am a frequent visitor, so how, what will they do to me?" frets the manager, who spends an average of 20 days and up to $10,000 a month at both casinos. He is worried because some Members of Parliament have suggested that the annual levies may have encouraged gambling problems, because when spread out over the year, the amount is insignificant.
His friend, Tan Wei Kiat, 60, who is with him at the Clementi food centre, says snidely: "Luckily I didn't buy the annual levy."
But the retiree may fit the gambler profile that worries the authorities - he has lost about half of his savings from his regular fortnight visits to the casinos. Not just in Singapore, but also in Malaysia.
Yet he says: "That's nothing lah. It's not like I have lost my entire savings.
"And it's not like I've had to borrow money from legal or illegal moneylenders. If I am barred from entering the casinos here, I can always go to Genting Highlands or even on cruises. Who is going to stop me?"
And that is precisely one of the points highlighted by Mr Iswaran and Mr Chan Chun Sing, Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, in Parliament.
Both ministers pointed out that there is no foolproof regulatory regime.
Most of the others I spoke to seem somewhat annoyed by the attention paid to them
Each time gambling curbs are proposed or discussed, her husband will "start to nag and nag", says Madam Sim Meiting, 48, a florist.
She spends about 80 per cent of her monthly $1,600 salary on gambling but thinks nothing of it.
"What's wrong? We don't have any children and as long as I don't end up in debts, who can complain?" she adds defiantly.
She admits that her monthly visits to the casinos on her pay day is turning her marriage sour.
"But I've told my husband that if he is not happy, we can just file for a divorce."
Madam Sim's statement is chilling. And it's a sign that something can turn really wrong.
I have written so many reports on compulsive gamblers in the past two years that I can say for certain: Most of the frequent or hardcore gamblers always feel that there is a sliver of a chance for them to recoup their losses if they can head back to the casino just one more time.
As one visit follows another, the gamblers will surely rack up gambling debts or, worse, gamble their homes (and families) away.
We can easily recommend that families consider applying for casino exclusions or visit limits if there is a need. Or, to introduce their gambling family members to counselling and treatment services.
Not that it is so easy.
Last April, Mr Jayden Liu, then 24, shared how his mother had threatened to kill herself on the third day of Chinese New Year.
The reason? The accountant and his sister, then 16, had tried to stop their mother, a 51-year-old hawker, from gambling.
When Mr Liu's sister blurted out angrily that they had considered applying for a family exclusion order, their mother went ballistic. She then pulled a stool to the kitchen window and threatened to jump.
Mr Liu's message on Friday night to update us on the situation is worrying: "Mum has moved out of home. We give up."
So yes, this heartland aunty says: Keep the measures coming.
Hard as they may be.
I have seen too much to simply stand neutral on this issue.
Keep them out. And keep them out for good.