You may be familiar with the betting games of 4D or TOTO, but how much do you know about the establishment that brought them to Singapore? Founded on 23 May 1968, Singapore Pools has been around for over half a century. It is responsible for ensuring that profits from gambling are channelled back to charity and other worthy causes, thereby eliminating illegal bookies. In order to do so, they take measures to ensure that their employees are well-trained and able to provide a safe environment for gamblers. In addition, they regularly conduct forums to educate their staff on responsible gaming.
In line with its vision to be a “Company for Good”, Singapore Pools also uses their technology capital and IT expertise to benefit the community. In 2018, they set up iShine Cloud, an affordable and integrated suite of charity-specific IT solutions delivered through a secure cloud platform. It provides other charities with greater productivity, governance and efficiency to allow them to better serve their beneficiaries.
Another initiative is the “Football with a Heart” campaign. This is a series of fundraising campaigns that Singapore Pools and the Tote Board have launched to support various communities in need, such as seniors, children and youths, low-income families, persons with disabilities and those with mental health conditions. In the past, these campaigns have raised over S$7.9 million in total.
More recently, they’ve expanded their social responsibility activities by providing a range of philanthropic and recreational services to the public. These include organising forums on responsible gambling and partnering with the National Crime Prevention Council to dovetail responsible gaming messaging into anti-illegal gambling campaigns. They have also taken steps to protect their customers by educating them on how to spot and report suspicious behaviour.
To help their employees become more creative and come up with innovative ideas, they partnered with Collective Campus to deliver two one-day tech crash courses for 40 employees. These workshops covered ideation methods, innovation theory and emerging technologies. The sessions have helped Singapore Pools boost employee creativity, as well as enable them to be more effective and efficient when solving business problems.
As part of its ongoing digital transformation strategy, Singapore Pools will soon be introducing a new online service for cash customers. This will make it easier for them to access their online account and bet on their favourite sports and events. The company has also revamped its website to be more user-friendly and mobile-friendly.
To further strengthen their security capabilities, the company has partnered with Oracle to implement its Cloud Observability and Management solution. This will give them visibility across all layers of their IT infrastructure and enable them to resolve issues quickly. It will also help them reduce operational risk and ensure proper governance of data. In addition, it will also improve their ability to predict and manage demand and proactively address any performance degradation. This will enable them to maintain a consistent and high-quality customer experience.