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Ginchiyo Tachibana
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The reason for their confidence: an increasing clientele of wealthy professionals, managers, executives and businessmen (PMEBs) such as high-flying bankers, with a preference for private, "by invitation only" games. An organiser of one such group, which plays at a Bukit Timah condominium, said: "In the casino, players can't smoke they need to pay a $100 entry fee. Here, we give them free drinks and food, they're allowed to smoke and are in familiar company."
More private properties are being rented to host home poker games, which can be illegal under the Common Gaming Houses Act. my paper understands that at least eight such poker groups using private housing - bungalows, apartments and condominiums - islandwide have sprung up in the past two years. Games are held three to four times a week, and run into the wee hours. Each group usually hosts just a single table that seats up to 10 people.
Entry is strictly by referral - friends of friends - and invitation only. The location and time of games are sent via text messages to players only a few hours before the games. To keep the clientele exclusive, buy-ins for these games do not come cheap. Minimum buy-ins for different places range from $200 to $500 and the house takes a small amount from the pot. One such venue, a two-storey terrace house in Kallang, looks like any other in the quiet private estate from the outside.
The only hint that there is more than meets the eye: the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera on the porch. Come certain nights of the week, the house plays host to poker players, many arriving in flashy cars. Once they enter the houses, the blinds go down and the doors are shut and locked. Only then do the cards start whizzing on the table. CCTV cameras closely monitor each table, as well as its surrounding area.
The money is sometimes wired to the accounts of the dealers and players after the games, for fear of police raids. A banker, who declined to be named, has been a frequent face in the underground poker scene since being introduced to it by friends two years ago. The draw isn't the money, the banker said. "It's the thrill of betting. What can you do in Singapore? You can watch a movie or go for coffee. There aren't many things you can do - there's no kick."
On a good night, the banker won up to almost $2,000. However, the banker had lost just as much in a single round, by going "all-in", that is, betting all his cash on a single hand. "It can be painful on the wallet, but I always think I can make it back the next time." The banker has already visited the casino - and lost $300 - on its maiden day - and will never go back. "The casino was so crowded, and it's not a nice, friendly environment.
It (the casino) allows bystanders to bet on your cards, which is disruptive and annoying, and the dealers are quite unprofessional. "I'd rather go to a house where I don't have to pay $100 to enter and, if I want a drink, I can just help myself without having to queue." On the potential penalties of getting caught, the banker was blase, saying: "I don't think there's any danger, and there's always a way to get around it anyway."
Like the patrons, the hosts who rent the properties also tend to be PMEBs - usually people in the banking and property industries. Young students or former convicts are paid by them to run the place and deal - or to take the rap should the police arrive. It is unclear whether the actual owners of the properties know of the goings-on in their houses. When my paper posed as an interested buyer to meet the owner of a private apartment in the Claymore area, the property developer who gave his name only as Mr Tan, he said that it was being rented out as an office.
He denied knowledge of poker games being held there, when he was asked. Under the Common Gaming Houses Act, a common gaming house is defined as any place the public can access and which is being used for gaming or lottery. Even if held among friends, home poker games can be considered illegal if they are held regularly and there is evidence of monetary transactions, said criminal and civil lawyer S. Rasanathan. The owner of the property can face charges, too, if he is determined to have knowledge of the goings-on after renting it out, he added.
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