Founded in 1968, singapore pools is the country’s only legal lottery and sports betting operator. In the last financial year, it collected a record $12.2 billion worth of bets, a 7 per cent increase over the previous year. This turnover was generated from bets on 4-D, Toto, Singapore Sweep, sports and horse racing. Almost 97% of this total revenue was dedicated to the public, including taxes and duties paid by gamblers, as well as funds channelled to Tote Board, a statutory board that channels operating surplus from gambling revenues into a broad range of community initiatives.
The rest of the funds are used to pay winnings and for operations. A large portion of the winnings – about 70% – are returned to players who have a valid identification card, and some of the proceeds go towards the operation of sports and charity events, as well as community development projects. In addition, a substantial amount goes towards lottery and sports-related charities that promote responsible gaming.
As part of its commitment to being a “Company for Good,” Singapore Pools set up iShine Cloud in 2018. This is a non-profit company that provides other charities with a comprehensive suite of solutions via a secure, cloud-based IT platform. The goal is to help them improve productivity, governance and efficiency, so they can better serve their beneficiaries.
While the company’s initial focus was on improving their internal systems and processes, they soon realised that it would be crucial to stay on top of emerging gaming trends to remain effective in stemming leakages to illegal gambling operators while upholding strict regulatory standards. With this in mind, they sought out to innovate by launching digital channels and a mobile betting platform for their customers. They also implemented a new telephone betting system, known as PoolzConnect, which features an Internet Protocol (IP) based call center and a security payment gateway linked to local banks.
Managing all these technology platforms was not easy, and Yeo’s team needed to find the best solution for their business needs. They opted for Oracle Cloud Observability and Management, which provided visibility across all layers of the IT stack, allowing them to troubleshoot issues in minutes instead of hours.
In addition to ensuring a resilient IT environment, OCI helped Singapore Pools reduce IT operational costs. The solution’s out-of-the-box analytics and dashboards helped the company manage and optimize their system resources in real-time, resulting in increased stability and performance.
By enabling them to quickly identify and resolve issues, OCI has helped Singapore Pools improve customer satisfaction and experience. The company has also achieved a significant reduction in IT overheads, which will be redirected to other areas such as digital channels and staff training. This will enable them to enhance the customer experience, and ultimately build a more vibrant, sustainable and competitive business for the future.