148 March 2021
SINGAPORE POOLS PRIVATE LIMITED
The organisation is now a wholly-owned
subsidiary of the Tote Board, which is
a statutory board under the Ministry of
Finance.. Over the past 50 years, Singapore
Pools as played a leading role in combating the
country’s illegal gambling scene.
“Our mission was to provide those people
who bet with a safe and trusted environment
in which to do it, and ensure that the surplus
revenue from gambling in Singapore could
be channelled back into supporting the
community through charities, rather than lining
the pockets of illegal syndicates,” Yeo explains,
adding that, in the decades since its inception,
Singapore Pools has earned the trust of the
country’s citizens.
First and foremost, winnings are tax-exempt,
so winners get to keep every dollar of their
prize money. “Unlike in a lot of other countries,
if you win a million dollars, you get to keep
a million dollars,” says Yeo. And all the surplus
revenue is channelled back to the government
where it's used to build national stadiums and
so forth.”
In the 2019/2020 financial year, Singapore
Pools collected close to S$9bn. Of that total,
S$6.3bn - 70% of the total - was returned to the
winners, 22% was collected by the government
as tax revenue, and 5% was channelled to
the Tote Board to be redirected to charities
and grants that support the arts, community
development, charity, education, health
and sports sectors, with the remaining 3%
representing the organisation’s operating costs.Digitally Transforming the
Customer Experience
The first step Yeo and his team took was
transforming the Singapore Pools’ customer
touchpoints, which were very traditional
counter-service based and in-person when
he arrived.In 2016, the team launched anTitle of the video