ActiveSG members who on-sell sports facility bookings or use bots face suspension, termination

SINGAPORE – National sports governing body Sport Singapore on Tuesday sent an e-mail to ActiveSG members to remind them that “on-selling” of its facility bookings and the use of bots to book sports venues could result in suspension.

From July 1, those who continue to do so will have their accounts terminated if they incur a second infringement.

In the e-mail, ActiveSG chief Tan Hock Leong said on-selling refers to “selling something you have purchased to another buyer”. The use of bots, or software programs, to secure slots at facilities is also prohibited.

He added: “Sport Singapore takes a very serious stance towards such activities, both of which are strictly not allowed under our ActiveSG terms of use, as they would deprive others of sporting opportunities while unfairly incurring additional costs at others’ expense.

“We conduct regular checks on all bookings and irregular patterns would be further investigated. Social media platforms are also scanned to check for on-selling activities involving ActiveSG facilities.”

First-time violators could have their ActiveSG accounts suspended for up to six months, while a second infringement will result in permanent termination of the account.

The policy will be effective from July 1.

Since 2021, more than 200 ActiveSG accounts have been suspended for suspected use of bots to book facilities and over 600 bookings have been cancelled due to on-selling, according to national movement ActiveSG.

This was previously revealed by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo in a written parliamentary reply on March 21.

The issue of on-selling of sports facility bookings and use of bots has been in the spotlight in recent years.

In January 2021, The Straits Times reported on third parties who were

reselling badminton court bookings.

Social players had voiced their anger and frustration at being unable to book the courts at ActiveSG’s sports halls and the OCBC Arena at the Singapore Sports Hub, and seeing the slots being resold for a profit on platforms such as Carousell, Meetup, Facebook and Telegram.

In September 2020, the Singapore Island Country Club discovered

“suspicious activities” in its online booking system

for golf games, with some members’ accounts using bots or scripted programs to secure tee times before booking opened. The matter was referred to the police.