Singapore Police Force said on Thursday, August 16 that the officers are aware that some merchants are operating vending machines, which dispenses random prizes depending on the receipt of cash payments in public areas.
The police said in a news release that since these activities are one kind of lottery, people, who are involved in such operations, are committing the crime under the Section 5(a) of the Common Gaming Houses Act.
As per this law, whoever-
(a) assists in the carrying on of a public lottery;
(b) receives, directly or indirectly, any money or money's worth for or in respect of any chance in any event or contingency connected with a public lottery or sells or offers for sale or gives or delivers or collects any lottery ticket;
(c) draws, throws, declares or exhibits, expressly or otherwise, the winner or winning number, ticket, the lot, figure, design, symbol or other results of any public lottery; or
(d) writes, prints or publishes or causes to be written, printed or published any lottery ticket or list of prizes or any announcement of the result of a public lottery or any announcement or riddle relating to a public lottery,
-shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not less than $20,000 and not more than $200,000 and shall also be punished with a jail term up to five years.
The police also asked existing merchants, who are operating such vending machines to stop those illegal activities. If anyone found being involved in such an operation even after the warning, the police will take enforcement actions against those offenders for continuing the breach of the law.
