Singapore’s overall gambling participation rate in 2023 among local adults – as gauged in an official survey guaranteeing participant confidentiality – was the lowest since the periodic survey began in 2005. The overall probable pathological and problem gambling (PPG) rate has also been “low and stable” at around 1.1 percent.
That is according to the city-state’s National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) 2023 survey. It gauged the participation in gambling activities among Singapore residents aged 18 and above. The survey results were published on Thursday.
Nonetheless, those respondents that confidentially admitted to doing types of online-delivered gambling that are illegal in Singapore, represented a higher percentage of total respondents relative to the previous survey.
The 2023 survey is said to be based on interviews with a randomly-selected sample of 3,007 Singapore residents, conducted between July 2023 and March 2024. The survey achieved an overall response rate of 73 percent.
The NCPG survey is conducted every three years.
According to the 2023 survey results reviewed by GGRAsia, 40 percent of Singapore adults reported that they had taken part in at least one form of gambling activity – a decrease from 44 percent in the 2020 survey and 52 percent in the 2017 survey. The 2023 overall gambling participation rate was also the lowest since studies of its kind started in 2005.
The 2023 survey results also show that the proportion of respondents classified as probable pathological gamblers remained low at around 0.2 percent, similar to that found in the 2017 and 2020 surveys. Similarly, the proportion of respondents classified as probable problem gamblers also remained stable at around 1 percent.
The overall PPG rate as of the 2023 survey is 1.1 percent, the NCPG noted. The council added, in remarks accompanying the survey results: “This is indicative that our social safeguards continue to work.”
The 2023 survey also found that the most popular type of gambling activity continued to be lottery play, with gamblers generally betting via legal channels: a pattern that was similar to the 2017 and 2020 survey.
The survey covering 2023 indicated about 1 percent of respondents engaged in illegal online gambling, a 0.7-percentage point increase from the 2020 survey. The NCPG remarked: “The increase is aligned with the rising trends in online gambling globally.”
The council also stated: “We note an increasing trend in illegal online gambling, and will continue to monitor the situation closely. We will also strengthen public education efforts to address people’s perceptions on online gambling.”
Among gamblers, the reported median monthly gambling expenditure was SGD25 (US$18.6), a 67-percent increase from the SGD15 logged in the 2020 survey. Nonetheless, the latest surveyed median monthly gambling expenditure was still lower when compared to the 2017 survey, which stood at SGD30.
