My Singapore Pools Journey

My Singapore Pools Journey

As most of you may know, I am currently having my internship at Singapore Pools. This is a 12 week program whereby we would be exposed to various aspects of the industry. Betting is classified under "gaming" in Singapore and it is really a pleasure to be given this opportunity to intern here. I would be adding things here from time to time to document my internship journey.

Week 1

I woke up still sleepy from the previous night of Dota. I told my friends that it was my "last day of summer" so we pulled an all-nighter and i caught just a couple of hours of sleep. I dragged my lazy body into the washroom to freshen up, changed into the uncomfortable formal clothing and made my way to Singapore Pools HQ. When I reached there, I thought I was early as I reached at 7.55. However when I approached the counter to tell them I am here for my internship, the receptionist did not even ask for my name. When I asked her if she needed my name she told me this

"You are the last one here, you are Mak right?"

Alright, looks like the policy here is that on time is late. I apologised apathetically and made my way up to the security office. They were making work and access passes for us. As we waited, I could see that most of the interns there were talking happily and there was this buzz about them. I thought they were all friends already and I was really glad Hejun took the initiative to talk to me. I found out that he was from NTU and he wasn't a staff from Singapore Pools. To put things into perspective, he was wearing a tie amd he brought me into the room from the lift lobby. Of course I assumed that he was a regular employee there.

Soon after the security briefing, our day started with a presentation from our HR manager Amy. She took us through a simple session of company policies and made us sign a free documents. Most notably, we signed a form that made us unable to make anymore sports bets.

Afterwards, she decided to let us figure out the history of Singapore Pools ourselves and do a presentation on it. To our utmost surprise, one of our groupmates, Meryl copied down the whole freaking history of SP on her notebook. So basically we just tidied things up and transferred the relevant things to the piece of vanguard paper. Also, we eavesdropped on the other team and wrote down whatever interesting stuff they talked about.

Guess who lost the black and white game?

Yours Truly

There was a buffet spread prepared just for us to meet the senior management team and our supervisors. We spent the lunch time talking to various people and I spent the majority of it talking to the Chief Financial Officer of SP. He was a really cool guy and was really interested in what is going on with young people nowadays. He gave us more perspective on the economy and about how there is going to be a change in the world soon. Details would be spared since he is a public figure.

Soon after, they brought us to several Singapore Pools outlets to take a look! They took us to 3 different outlets; Holland Village, Suntec City and Livewire @ MBS. There were stark differences across all 3 as Holland V's outlet looked like a more atas outlet with a sports corner. Whereas the Suntec City one was at some ulu pandan secluded corner. They told us that it was placed in such a location because SP had a negative impact on their "public image" as a mall. Lastly, we went to Livewire which was an eye-opener. Livewire was set up around 5 years ago to cater to the growing number of sports bettors in Singapore. For a small entry fee of 50 dollars, they could sit down and observe the matches live. They can also make more live bets during the course of the game. We chilled a bit after the site visits and went our separate ways.

Holland V

Suntec

Livewire

Day 2 of internship began with a meeting with the whole department and Kevin briefed us on all the projects that they are currently undertaking. It was really cool what some of the stuff they are doing and the only thing I can disclose down here is that I am under a team called "Retail Network Planning". Basically the job of this department is to plan for future outlets, find replacement for outlets whereby lease is running out and testing new technology to improve efficiency of outlets. 

People sitting around our area are all under Lottery Products and they were kind enough to bring me and my buddy, Pi Ying, to lunch. It was really a lesson on the company culture as they brought us to eat duck noodles and we even had dessert afterwards. By the time lunch was over, we could feel that it was almost time to knock off!

During the course of the entire week, Pi Ying and I were working on a project for the renewal of lease for our supervisor Conrad. We scouted all available places in area A and plotted it on a map for him. We even took down the contact number for different agents in area A and compiled nicely into a document. Pi Ying made me check and check and check again to make sure our first project was solid.

Week 2

It was the second week of work and formal clothes don't feel that uncomfortable anymore. I decided to splurge some of my future pay on formal shirts and not just take it from my Dad's closet. Apparently G2000 had a 15% discount for students which amounted to around 90+ for 3 shirts. It was a tad bit expensive but for a comfortable shirt it was well worth the price.

It felt great to be in comfortable clothes in office as you would be spending almost 10 hours in it everyday. This week we were introduced to the new technology Singapore Pools was testing on. It was really cool as we didn't know that just one small change in this would bring out the revolution of the whole betting system. I was really glad that Kevin let us in on this project and allowed us the opportunity to be part of force responsible for the changes.

Went to visit a branch outlet with Conrad midweek

We were let in on a side project of Kevin's as he would like to look at some illegal gambling problems regarding workers in the dorms. This was a prevalent problem since the inception of Singapore Pools. Basically, Singapore Pools was set up to combat illegal gambling. The government did not want to restrict people from gambling but should they want to do so, they should gamble under us. Illegal bookies are still rampant today as they offer more attractive odds and you can gamble on credit. Gambling on credit was a ridiculous affair as it meant that you would be spending future money on a losing battle. That's right, to win the jackpot for TOTO you only have 1 in 14 million chances. Furthermore, illegal bookies come hand-in-hand with loan sharks which is still a relevant problem in today's society. 

Since we are on how Singapore Pool operates, I would like to debunk the myth that the government is sucking up all our money. Singapore Pools is ran like a non-profit organisation and channels all the profits it generates to good causes. They sublet their extra shophouses to charity organisations at no cost. Furthermore, they built many of the established landmarks in Singapore since the 1970s. They have built the National Stadium, Esplanade and the new Sports Hub just to name a few, with the money generated from the bets.

After learning how SP works, I reaffirmed that it was the right decision to come here and intern. Most people would know that I am very involved in community service and helping people is what I enjoy the most in life. There is also a branch called the IShine which meant that SP employees are encouraged to participate in various events to do some community service. They collaborate with various charity organisations ranging from children with disabilities to the elderly and have a sustainable working relationship with them.

This week was a continuation of various projects and passed like a breeze. I went out every weekday and met different group of friends. The highlight of the week would be "A night in Little Vietnam"

Week 3

Things began to get busier for us after our supervisors came back from their training regarding the new technology. It also meant that we could begin to do some groundwork whereby we do location assessments of different areas based on the URA subzones. The Urban Redevelopment Authority has segregated Singapore into different zones based on some mathematical formula and we have identified various areas that are under-served or over-served. The process is split into three parts whereby we do a simple desktop research on the area, head down to assess it based on our judgement and hash it out regarding differing judgement from different people.

So we began the journey of 300 outlets with a single step in area B. Conrad took the liberty of walking us through location assessment and introduced us to various food in the area. He told us the minced pork noodles was the bomb and we should try it next time when we visit the area again. We spent some time at the outlet as our supervisor had much to talk about with the Branch Manager. So apparently according to some company policy, there needs to be a rotation of staff every few years so that each branch would hit the minimum network health set by the planning side. Afterwards, he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and I had to make my way to the Buona Vista station. By the time I reached home it was already dark as hell. Leave home dark, come home dark, only in Singapore.

The next few days were all about compiling some stuff and waiting for the highlight of the week - making our very own tote bags!

So during this week, Singapore Pools had their anniversary whereby they decided to launch their Greenup initiative which meant that SP would be going green. There was a cut down on unnecessary stuff such as paper cups and plastic utensils. Instead, staff were encouraged to go green in different ways. During the anniversary lunch, I was happy to be able to share a few words with the CEO of Singapore Pools. He was a really cool guy and talking to us about our Levis and Denizen while eating the Matcha cake. He dismissed us and we went to attack the buffet spread.

On Friday, we brought our old cotton shirt and proceeded to the Tote Bag workshop! They even gave us some free lunch before the workshop which was really cool. During the workshop, it was all fun and laughter as the interns poked fun at each other while we tried to make our own tote bag. Mine did not turn out fantastic as it looked totally different from the samples that they had shown us. Oh well, arts and crafts noob here.

All the pretty tote bags!

Interns with our bags!

Week 4

Monday flew by quickly as it was PAYDAY! We received our first pay which was pro-rated as we worked only 3 weeks and 1 day! Despite that, everybody was happy as it was eat-with-your-colleague day. There was a buffet spread at the livewire corner but our supervisor decided to bring us out for dim sum instead. We went to this place called Red House and he told us that SP staff had 40% discount which made its prices comparable to Victor's Kitchen. Despite our protest, Kevin decided to treat us again solely because he said "I asked you all for lunch, so I should treat right!" The chilli crab bun was really nice there. However, their peanuts as appetizer was quite expensive at 3 dollars.

A chill place for dim sum

In the afternoon, we planned out the schedule for our entire week as we decide to visit different locations for various projects. The very next day, we came to the office to make some calls to get participants for our research study and went out to visit area B! We walked for around an hour and visited more than 30 blocks of flats. We noted down those with shops that would draw crowds and did our own assessment on the area. After that we decided to try the minced pork noodles but it was really bad. Not that it tasted bad, but the expectations that Conrad put on us made the so-so noodles tasted not as good in our minds. We visited another outlet before chilling a while and head back to office!

That's about it for the internship post. As afterwards shit that we did was pretty much confidential. And also shoutout to the SPools staff for being kind and considerate to us, the guest of the summer.