Casino Games in Singapore

Where casino gambling is legal in Singapore

Casino gambling in Singapore exists in exactly two places: the casino at Marina Bay Sands and the casino at Resorts World Sentosa. These are the only licensed casino premises in the country, and the law caps the number at two¹. Everything else that is legal sits outside the casinos: betting with Singapore Pools on lotteries, football and horse racing, jackpot machine rooms at private clubs, and social gambling among family and friends at home¹.

Gambling activities in Singapore are prohibited unless they are exempted or licensed, so the two casinos operate under a dedicated regime, the Casino Control Act 2006, rather than the general gambling law that covers everything else⁶. For the full picture of what is and is not allowed, see gambling in Singapore.

One point worth knowing: a minor, meaning anyone below the legal age, may not enter or remain in, or take part in any gaming at, any casino premises, and a minor who does so commits an offense⁸.

The two casinos: Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa

The Marina Bay Sands casino sits beneath the famous three-tower hotel on the downtown waterfront, and the Resorts World Sentosa casino is inside the integrated resort on Sentosa island, next to Universal Studios. Both are large-floor operations with the full spread of table games and machines, and both are open around the clock. For entry rules, getting there and what each floor is like, see the dedicated pages for casinos in Singapore.

Baccarat dominates both floors. It is by far the most popular table game in Singapore, drawing the biggest crowds and the highest stakes, with blackjack and roulette next in line. Poker-based table games such as Caribbean Stud also appear on the floor. If you want the poker room experience rather than table games against the house, see poker in Singapore.

Baccarat: rules, payouts and house edge

Baccarat is a simple guessing game of pure chance. No matter how many players are seated, only two hands of cards are dealt: the Player's and the Banker's. You bet on which hand will win, and the winning hand is the one closest to a total of 9 points⁹.

Card values are straightforward: aces count 1, cards 2 through 9 count their face value, and 10, jack, queen and king count 0. If a hand's cards total more than 9, only the rightmost digit is used, so a 7 and an 8, totaling 15, counts as 5. The highest possible hand is nine².

The dealing rules are fixed, so you never make a playing decision:

• If either hand totals 8 or 9 on the first two cards, that is a natural, no more cards are dealt, and all bets are settled².
• If the Player hand totals 0 to 5, it draws a third card; on 6 or 7 it stands².
• The Banker draws if its total is 0 to 5 and stands on 6 or 7 when the Player hand stood².

Payouts work like this:

• Player bet wins: paid 1 to 1².
• Banker bet wins: paid 1 to 1 minus a 5% commission, which the dealer collects².
• Tie bet wins: paid 8 to 1².

The house edge is about 1.06% on the banker bet and about 1.24% to 1.26% on the player bet, which makes the banker bet one of the best value wagers in the entire casino². The tie bet is far worse value despite the attractive 8 to 1 payout. There are no skills you can develop to improve your odds in baccarat; it is purely a game of chance².

In Squeeze Baccarat, a popular variant, the players with the highest wagers on the Player and Banker hands are given the cards to squeeze, touch or hold themselves, adding a small ritual to the reveal¹¹.

Blackjack: rules, payouts and house edge

Blackjack is the one major table game where your decisions matter. You are dealt two cards and try to get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Face cards count 10, aces count 1 or 11, and the dealer plays by fixed rules¹³.

The key moves:

• Hit to take another card, or stand to keep your total¹³.
• Double down to double your bet and take exactly one more card¹³.
• Split: with two similar cards you can separate them into two individual hands, but you must make another bet equal to the original. The dealer gives the first hand a second card, which you may hit, stand or double, before moving to the second hand¹⁴.

If the dealer has a ten or an ace up, she checks for blackjack. If she has it, the round is over and all players automatically lose, unless a player also has blackjack, in which case that player keeps their original bet¹⁴. A natural blackjack, an ace plus a ten-value card, is dealt to you about 4.8% of the time¹².

The odds shift with every hand. In a standard eight-deck game where the dealer stands on soft 17 and blackjack pays 3 to 2, players win about 42% of hands and the dealer about 49%, with the rest pushes. If you are dealt a 10 and a King against a dealer's 6, your chance of winning that hand is about 77%; against a dealer's ace it drops to about 63%¹².

Your bust risk rises fast as your total climbs. On a hand total of 13 you bust about 38.5% of the time if you hit; on 19, about 84.6%; on 20, about 92.3%. Meanwhile the dealer busts about 35.3% of the time showing a 2, about 42.9% showing a 5, and only about 26.0% showing a 7¹².

The house edge in blackjack is around 0.5% in an eight-deck game paying 3 to 2, if you follow basic strategy. Ignore basic strategy and the edge can climb to about 4%¹². Standard blackjack itself runs at roughly 0.5%¹². For the home version of the game popular at Chinese New Year, see Ban Luck.

Roulette: European and American wheels compared

Roulette needs no decisions at all: you bet on where the ball lands. The American roulette wheel has 38 numbered slots, 1 through 36 plus two green slots marked 0 and 00¹⁵. The European wheel has only a single zero, which is why European Roulette is still offered in many casinos as an alternative to the American version¹⁶.

That one extra green slot matters a lot. With two zeros, the American wheel gives the house an edge of about 5.3% with optimal play². The single-zero European wheel cuts that edge nearly in half, so if both tables are on the floor, the European one is the better value.

Bets split into outside bets, such as red or black and odd or even, which pay 1 to 1, and inside bets on single numbers or small groups, which pay more, with a column bet paying 2 to 1. The payouts are set so the house edge is the same on virtually every bet on the wheel, so no bet selection changes your long-run odds¹⁵.

Side bets and variations at the tables

Beyond the three core games, the Singapore floors carry variations and side bets worth knowing about.

Non-commission baccarat drops the 5% fee on winning banker bets, which sounds like a gift but comes with a catch in the rules on certain banker wins¹¹. If you play it, ask the dealer to explain exactly when the banker bet pays less than 1 to 1.

Caribbean Stud Poker is a common poker-based table game where you play against the house rather than other players. It is easy to learn but expensive: the house edge is 5.2%, worse than any main bet in baccarat, blackjack or single-zero roulette¹⁷.

Squeeze Baccarat, described above, is as much about the ritual of revealing the cards as the odds¹¹.

Side bets in general, on blackjack tables and elsewhere, tend to carry much higher house edges than the main game. They are there for the occasional big payout, not for value.

House edge and RTP: how the three games compare

Here is how the main games stack up, using the figures above:

The practical reading: blackjack rewards you for playing well and punishes you for playing badly more than any other game on the list. Baccarat gives you a near-fixed low edge for zero effort. Roulette is the same whichever way you bet, and the single-zero wheel is always the better pick.

One thing that does not change your odds: casino winnings in Singapore are not taxed as income, so what you win at the tables is what you take home⁵.

Who may enter: locals, visitors and exclusions

The rules differ sharply between locals and visitors.

Foreign visitors enter free, with no levy, on showing a passport or other acceptable identification at the door.

Singapore citizens and permanent residents may not enter or remain in a casino unless they have paid the entry levy: S$150 for every consecutive 24-hour period, or S$3,000 for a valid annual membership³. The levy is a deliberate deterrent, set high on purpose. For how it works in detail, see Singapore's casino entry levy.

Exclusions and visit limits apply on top of the levy. Individuals can apply to exclude themselves from the casinos, or to limit the number of visits they make in a calendar month²⁰. Family members can apply for a family exclusion order against a relative, and the authorities can impose third-party exclusions to protect financially vulnerable citizens and permanent residents, including those with poor credit records²². An excluded person may not enter casino premises, and the operator must bar them¹⁹. If you are excluded or under a visit limit, the entry levy is not refunded²⁴.

If gambling is becoming a problem for you or someone close to you, see gambling help in Singapore.

Practical tips for a casino visit

A few things worth knowing before you go:

• Bring cash or cards, but not an ATM. Automatic teller machines are prohibited within casino premises, so you cannot withdraw money once inside¹⁹. Plan your budget before you walk in.
• Winnings are paid in casino chips. Casinos pay winnings in full, in chips, which you exchange at the cage on your way out⁴.
• Chips do not transfer between casinos. A casino operator may not issue chips in exchange for another operator's chips equal to or exceeding S$10,000 in a single business day, so do not expect to carry chips from one casino to the other²⁵.
• Do not record the games. Recording games at the tables is an offense, and a 2024 amendment expanded this to cover recording of non-card games such as gaming machines¹⁸. Keep your phone away from the tables.
• No betting on credit. The general rule in Singapore gambling is that no credit is extended; bring what you intend to play with²⁶.
• Learn basic strategy for blackjack. The difference between a 0.5% edge and a 4% edge is entirely in your hands, and a basic strategy chart is simple to learn before you go¹².
• Pick the single-zero roulette wheel if both are offered¹⁶.
• For locals, budget the levy into the night. At S$150 per 24 hours, the levy is often more than a casual player would stake, which is exactly its purpose³.
• Set your own limit if you want one. You can apply for a voluntary visit limit capping your casino visits per calendar month, a useful tool if you want a hard boundary²⁷.

For payments, money handling and cashing out in more detail, see gambling payments in Singapore, and for the tax position on winnings, see tax on gambling winnings in Singapore.