By Kor Kian Beng And Ng Hui Hui
November 03, 2006
THEY go about their business openly. The windows are not even darkened and anyone can walk in and use the facilities.
Click to see larger image
One of the 'cybercafes' in Hougang where customers could be seen gambling on PCs inside. -- GAVIN TAN
To passers-by, they appear to be cybercafes where customers can play games on high-speed Internet.
But step inside and you'll find customers playing a different type of game on the computers - games typically found in casinos such as jackpot, blackjack and roulette.
At Hougang Ave 1, one of Singapore's oldest HDB estates, there are a few such cafes.
And they are so brazen despite earlier press reports on their illegal activities. The New Paper team visited Block 108 yesterday and saw three Internet cafes.
Coincidentally, all three have beauty salons as neighbours. One was closed.
On the front of one shop, which was open, a notice read: 'Fastest Internet access. 1 hour $3.'
But there was no such service available when we checked out the shop yesterday afternoon. The operator said it has not been set up.
Instead, it was obvious that gambling activity was available in the spartan shop, which has 11 computer terminals placed on two rows of tables lined against the walls.
One resident in the vicinity, who declined to be named, said: 'Anybody can go in and gamble.
'Many people go there to play jackpot. You pay money upfront and you get credits to play. It's a new kind of gambling but there are no slot machines. It's played on computers.'
MEMBERSHIP NOT REQUIRED
No membership is required at this outlet, unlike sports clubs operating illegal gambling machines which allow only familiar faces in.
At this outlet, where frosted glass doors make up about two-thirds of the shopfront, there was no effort to conceal the activities inside it.
Customers can start playing after paying $10 to buy 'credit points'.
The operator, a man who appeared to be in his early 40s, didn't say if that was the minimum amount.
But at another shop in the same block, we were told that customers would have to buy at least $20 worth of credit points to play either blackjack or jackpot games.
After paying, the operator would use a key to turn a lock on the computer processing unit to raise the credit balance on the jackpot game to 1,000 credit points.
He said customers could exchange for cash whatever credit balance was left. We saw a customer approach the operator, who checked his credit and gave him $50.
At the back of the shop, there is a water cooler and a medium-sized fridge stocked with packet and canned drinks - free for customers.
With the computer screens facing away from the walls, it was easy to see what each user was doing.
We saw eight customers, mostly middle-aged men, at the terminals - their eyes fixed on the screens and hands glued to the computer mouse.
Most were playing jackpot games, while a couple were playing roulette.
The games appeared to originate from software linked to a central server.
In one corner, a teenage girl sat quietly at another terminal, playing a drawing game while her mother was trying her luck at a roulette game several seats away.
LAN shops, or computer games operators, raised eyebrows when told of the shop's clientele.
They said their customers are mostly aged 12 to 18. Those above 30 go after work to play games such as Counter Strike and Defense of the Ancients (DotA).
But in the Hougang shop that we visited, the customers are mostly middle-aged men.
'That is quite telling. After all, how many ah peks would play DotA?' said one LAN shop operator, who declined to be named.
LAN shop owners and regular visitors feel that such shops are more like gambling dens than games centres.
Mr Jason Lim, 26, manager of LAN shop Future Icon, said: 'We don't give out credits. We charge by the hour or day. And we certainly don't have such games that you see in casinos.'
A police spokesman said that once customers 'pay first and get cash in return later', the venue is deemed to be a 'common gaming house'.
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