Home Affairs Ministry releases Chia Teck Leng's paper on cas
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By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : Once the second biggest casino gambler in the world, he is serving 42 years in jail for cheating banks of $117.1 million to feed his habit.
Chia Teck Leng, now aged 45, is against having a casino in Singapore but says if there is to be one, Singapore needs to at least tame it.
He wrote a paper "Taming the Casino Dragon" while in prison to 'share his experience' and 'lessons learnt'.
The Home Affairs Ministry is releasing it now - as part of the public education on the casino debate.
What is the fuss about a criminal's account?
It was the largest case of cheating involving a Singaporean - the former finance manager of Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd - ended up in jail because he was 'hooked' on gambling.
He was given time off from prison work to write this 13-page paper - and took about five months till December.
It is almost academic in tone - informative - introducing words like 'whale' to mean the big players and 'house advantage' for the odds in favour of the casino in the long-term.
Self-deprecating at times - saying "like an inexperienced teenager succumbing to the lure of a newly discovered vice, I was soon hooked".
And at others, prescriptive. In fact, without irony, he recommends over 10 'safeguards' to protect Singaporeans from the ill-effects of casino gambling.
Chia spoke about being accosted by "alluringly colourful lights, attractive croupiers and the magical promise of easy money."
The turning point came when he lost three-quarters of a million dollars which he had painstakingly saved. To recoup losses, Chia sought bigger bets.
He travelled to exclusive casinos in Australia and London where he placed million-dollar bets.
Besides that, Chia gives an insight into just how lucrative the casino trade is, giving the example of just how much operators make in one game - Baccarat.
His plain message was the casino always wins. - CNA /de -
Follow up piece:
S'pore aims to be top gambling addiction treatment centre in Asia
By Joanne Leow, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : More professional help for problem gamblers is on the way.
Singapore aims to be among the top treatment centres in Asia for gambling addictions.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has called for the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to benchmark itself against the best problem gambling centres in the world.
Last year, the Community Addictions Management Programme or CAMP at IMH saw 100 patients for gambling addiction.
The health minister said he had agonised over the casino issue.
While he was compelled by the economic benefits of an integrated resort, he said that social ills were unavoidable and had to be tackled.
"This has traditionally been neglected, despite the general observation that Asians seem particularly predisposed to gambling. If casino operators are correct about the huge appetite for casino gambling among Asians, it would mean a need for several major treatment centres in this region to serve the large number of addicts," Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said.
Only 12 of its professional staff at the IMH are trained and certified as Gambling Addiction Counsellors and there is a need to recruit more.
Its addiction programme's capabilities will be enhanced and expanded, so that it can focus on multi-disciplinary treatment.
It aims to be a one stop tertiary treatment centre providing services in:
- screening and assessment,
- individual and group therapy,
- structured relapse prevention,
- family therapy services, and
- legal, credit, financial and employment counselling
CAMP also wants to do more evidence based research into gambling, taking into account factors unique to Asian gamblers.
-CNA /ls -
$1m fund for education and prevention against gambling problems
$1 million to tackle gambling-related problems. Is that enough?
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewAsia
SINGAPORE: The government is putting $1 million into public education programmes that will target specific vulnerable groups like the young and the elderly.
This is among the safeguards put in place in anticipation of the problems that may arise from the having casinos at the 2 planned integrated resorts.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, assured the house that the best possible framework to combat problem gambling was being set up.
The National Council on Gambling will be up by August, and the Ministry will also conduct more research on the topic, but responsibility lies with the families, because they will be hardest hit when a member falls into the gambling trap.
The government expects to spend $40 million every year to tackle the gambling problem.
As for the plan to have an "exclusion system" to bar people from entering, the Ministry is studying a South Australian tribunal which considers applications to exclude family members.
"They have a simple process where a complainant lodges an application to an independent gambling authority, a minimum of 2 members of the authority will interview the complainant, the respondent and other relevant parties, this authority is bound by evidence and will make a decision, this has work well for them so far," said Dr Balakrishnan.
"We are thinking of a similar interview process, in which we will have a panel that is appointed by the national council of gambling that will listen to the complaints and make a decision, if there's an appeal, that appeal will go to the fully national council of gambling and its decision will be final, politicans and MPs will not be involved in this process.
"We want our system to be simple, efficient and a low cost one so that it will work," he added.
Dr Balakrishnan added that he is deeply heartened that all MPs - both opposition and PAP, have agreed to work together to tackle the threats of problem gambling.
He assured the House that everyone who needs help, can and will get help, but he warned against over regulation which could undermine the viability of the integrated resorts. - CNA /dt -
A million for show, should be enough.Originally posted by SBS9611D:$1 million to tackle gambling-related problems. Is that enough?
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as usual. spend a small amount of money and blow it out of proportion. but behind the scene they make billions and billions.