4-D and Toto drive record $12.2b in bets for Singapore Pools

Bets placed with Singapore Pools amounted to a record $12.2 billion in the last financial year, which ended in March 2024.

This sum was its highest ever, a Singapore Pools spokesperson told The Straits Times. It is the only legal lottery and sports betting operator in Singapore.

Its $12.2 billion turnover was 7 per cent higher than the $11.4 billion from the year before.

The compound annual growth rate for Singapore Pools’ turnover has been 8.3 per cent since the 2019/2020 financial year, the spokesperson said.

“This was driven by interest and growth in sports betting, coupled with an increase in major tournaments and events in the past few years,” the spokesperson added.

Singapore Pools’ annual report for the last financial year, which was released on Nov 5, showed that turnover came from bets placed on 4-D, Toto, Singapore Sweep, sports and horse racing.

The report did not provide a breakdown of the total amount spent on betting on each activity.

Singapore Pools is a subsidiary of the Tote Board, a statutory board of the Finance Ministry. The Tote Board channels operating surplus from gambling revenue to support a host of initiatives in the community.

The Singapore Pools spokesperson said its contribution to the Government for the last financial year - comprising betting duties, taxes and contributions to the Tote Board - was also the highest recorded.

It paid $2.29 billion in gambling duties and taxes and gave $437 million to the Tote Board, its annual report stated.

According to the 2023 edition of a survey of over 3,000 people, 40 per cent of Singapore residents gambled at least once in the past year.

This is lower than the 44 per cent who did so in the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) 2020 survey.

The NCPG’s latest survey, released on Nov 28, also found that the median sum spent on gambling bets was $25 a month. And 92 per cent of gamblers bet through Singapore Pools.

The most popular games among gamblers were 4D and Toto, with 30 per cent of survey respondents betting on 4D and 29 per cent on Toto.

Among those who bet at least once a week, 97 per cent bet on lotteries such as 4D and Toto.

Counsellors who work with problem gamblers say the ease and convenience of placing online bets using mobile phones could have fuelled the growing sums wagered in the past few years.

In 2016, Singapore Pools started allowing its customers to place their bets online through their Singapore Pools account. Customers must be at least 21 years old and cannot gamble on credit, among other criteria.

Mr Zen Goh, a counsellor at the Arise2Care Community Services, said Singapore Pools offers numerous soccer matches in multiple leagues for punters to bet on - such as the English Premier League, the Malaysia Cup and Spanish League.

The large number and variety of matches to bet on is one possible reason for Singapore Pool’s growing turnover, he said.

He said: “Some gamblers just bet on any match they can find, even though they don’t know the team. 

“Every day, there is a match somewhere in the world for you to bet on.”

Counsellors also said the social acceptance of casual gambling explains the popularity of 4D and lotteries like Toto and Singapore Sweep, where a small bet could potentially lead to large winnings.

Mr Billy Lee, executive director of Blessed Grace Social Services, said: “It’s seen as a form of recreation, and having some excitement in life.”

He added: “For the lower rung in society, many see it as the only hope they have to get really rich.”

Clinical director of We Care Community Services Tham Yuen Han said many Singaporeans now use their phones as their primary source of entertainment, and that online betting on 4D may have become normalised and seen like other online games.

Mr Chan Khuen, a 74-year-old former cook, said he buys 4D religiously thrice a week. There are three 4D draws a week on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Mr Chan said he is hoping to strike it rich as he is unable to work due to health woes. He has been betting on 4D for at least the past 50 years, and described it as his hobby.

He spends about $50 a week on his bets, adding in Mandarin: “I’m buying hope - the hope to win.”

Others, like a 74-year-old retired blue-collar worker who only wanted to be known as Mr Tang, spends a few hundred dollars a month on 4D and soccer matches.

He buys 4D almost each time there is a draw.

He said in Mandarin: “I have nothing to do since I’m retired. And I hope to win some money so I can be happy.”