As the use of cash declines, it is now common to see people waving their phones at a payment reader or scanning a QR code to pay for a purchase.

In addition to online XO games, it is a gambling that is popular with gamblers. It's also easy to sign up through the website. Deposits and withdrawals via SLOTXO system, deposits and withdrawals with the auto system are also very fast.

For those who don't qualify for credit cards or would rather not use them for contactless payments, digital wallets where users can pre-load funds are a popular option. 

One commonly used option in Singapore is GrabPay, by tech behemoth Grab. Major e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada and Qoo10 also have their own versions of digital wallets.

Mobile app payments that can be linked to credit or debit cards, or have a stored value function to pre-load funds, have been around since e-commerce took off. But the industry saw rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic amid a boom in online shopping and a growing preference for contactless payments.

So much so that they look set to overtake credit cards as the most popular online payment method in Singapore by 2024, according to a report by US financial technology firm FIS that tracked payment trends in 2020.

These apps accounted for 29 per cent of e-commerce transaction value in Singapore last year, up from 20 per cent in 2020, and closing the gap with credit cards which for now retain their lead in market share at 42 per cent, according to FIS' most recent report in 2021.