Singapore sets aside registration of HK$19.35m Venetian Macau casino debt

Singapore's High Court set aside registration of a Hong Kong judgment under which a Venetian Macau patron owed HK$19.35 million, plus interest and costs, on a promissory note connected to casino credit. The court held that enforcing the judgment would conflict with Singapore's public policy against court recovery of gambling debts.

The ruling narrows a casino creditor's practical recovery route when a patron has assets in Singapore, even if the debt produced a judgment elsewhere. The court rejected the patron's separate notice, fraud and jurisdiction grounds, so the result turned specifically on the public-policy exception in the Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.