After losing money playing online poker, three friends decided to create their own club hosting poker games within their social circle. They set it up with a mobile app and bought virtual coins to start games, which they took turns to host daily after their working hours. In a single day in November 2018, they facilitated 29 players in their "All in Poker Club" with a total bet value of S$11,682.
In June 2018, Low registered a new club named "All in Poker Club" using the Pokerrr2 mobile app. All three of the accused were given roles of managers, with access and administrative rights as hosts to invite and grant approval to other account holders to join their club.
Serene Chan Li Shan, 35, Desmond Low Weimin, 36, and 31-year-old Benjamin Ong Jia Wei, the trio pleaded guilty to a charge each under the Remote Gambling Act of providing a Singapore-based remote gambling service, facilitating participation by others in remote gambling on the Pokerrrr2 mobile app.
They used a function in the app for auto-generation of tips for each game, which meant a 5 per cent charge from the total bet amount to form a pool of funds for the accused persons. They shared the proceeds equally among themselves.
The trio volunteered to take turns to host the game daily after their working hours, from 6pm onwards. They invited friends and friends of their friends to join the online poker games using a club code and bought virtual coins that they used to start and host games.
They used a WhatsApp chat group to notify players of the games and update them on daily settlement of losses and winnings.
Chan was in charge of the settlement, tallying the wins and losses and receiving money from the losers via PayNow. She would transfer the winnings later on via the same method, while the two men took charge of hosting the game and watching to prevent huge losses.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim asked for at least three months' jail and a fine of S$20,000 each, saying that remote gambling is "especially pernicious" for three reasons.
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