Writing in his Facebook, Workers’ Party Assistant Secretary-General Pritam Singh said that yesterday (10 Oct) many MPs wanted to ask questions about the exemptions granted under the Remote Gambling Act, only to be denied by the Speaker of Parliament. The exemptions by the Government allows the Singapore Turf Club and Singapore Pools to offer online gambling options under the Act.
He said that many MPs were unable to ask supplementary questions at the Question and Answer time as the Speaker, could not allow the session to become another mini-debate on the Remote Gambling Bill.
In 2014, the opposition MPs spoke on the Bill and urged the Government to send the Remote Gambling Bill to a Select Committee of Parliament to scrutinise the Bill further. They argued that this was needed to address the many concerns Singaporeans had over granting exemptions to permit online gambling. This suggestion was rejected by the Government.
“The fact that both sides of the House had so many residual questions about online gambling suggests that the debate of 2014 on the Remote Gambling Bill left much to be desired,” said Mr Singh.