Subject day 1 for 35 M18- qualified Victorians was… well, interesting.
On reaching Paradiz, we went straight up to Singapore Pools. There, we first filled up half of a survey form by our school. Soon, we went up the levels to have the introduction about Singapore Pools and its operations.
Firstly, Singapore Pools sponsors many events and activities, such as the building of the National Stadium and the recent F1. The organisation only takes 2% for themselves, the rest is split to returns for winners, taxes and the community chest (Yes, Singapore Pools is not a non-profit organisation). **NOTE TO ALL CCA LEADERS AND FACULTIES WHICH ARE CONSIDERING OVERSEAS TRIPS: It is possible to ask for sponsorship and funding from Singapore Pools for learning journeys, or school exchanges overseas!
It turns out that Singapore Pools has a host of activities organized specially to discourage illegal betting, such as coming up with rooms to display live soccer matches for people to bet up to the 90th minute. To quote the lady, “they can feel the thrill immediately”.
As we all know, children *laughs* under 18 are not allowed to place, bets, and students in uniforms are also not allowed to collect winnings. Singapore Pools also has strategies employed against underage betting. However, in a quiz they gave, we learnt that ‘it is illegal for a girl to buy bets from someone who is an illegal bet collector, but it is legal if the collector buys from Singapore Pools’! What an irony…
Another quiz just for fun: My friend plays mahjong everyday at home! Is it legal?
Answer: Legal! Unless he sets up 5 tables…
This is how the TOTO works: firstly, to make a bet, you have to spend at least $1, and each original bet is $0.50. Thus you can bet on 2 sets of 6 numbers. To win, you’d have to guess at least 4 correct numbers (if i remember correctly), within the same set. The draw would give 6 main numbers, and one extra number as a bonus.
Here is the most interesting and awaited part of the programme: watching the live draw for the thursday TOTO results. My classmate Zhang Qiao volunteered herself to start the ball rolling. Or rather, start the balls flying. The transparent spherical capsule contained the 45 balls in which 7 balls would randomly be retrieved by the machine. The first 6 balls represent the 6 main numbers, while the last would be the 7th number. 3 of us sitting together tried our luck – not by betting, of course – by simply pretending to bet, by writing down 12 numbers on a random piece of paper. The maximum anyone of us got was 2 correct numbers! “$1 wasted!”
After that, we basically completed the survey form and left Paradiz. In all, it is quite a cool place to be, though it may not exactly be as exciting to watch if you have placed bets and the balls which roll out… 
Moral of the story: Bet at your own risk.