Online Gambling in Malaysia; loud noises but no real action

Published in: Latest Intelligence The current government ordered crackdown on illegal gambling in Malaysia is more about rhetoric and internal politics than about a real desire to stop Malaysians gambling offshore, informed observers in Kuala Lumpur say.
The Attorney General has ordered a review of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953, one of the main laws restricting gambling, because the Act does not cover betting through the internet.
However a gambling company director in Kuala Lumpur discounted fears that the government genuinely wanted to eliminate offshore gambling.
“The AG has to be seen to be doing something,” he told AGB, “but it won’t really change anything, because many Malaysians already have funds offshore. Even without funds overseas, it is not difficult to gamble using Malaysian currency as the offshore sites accept credit and debit cards and the banking system does not block transactions”.

Malaysians need prior approval before remitting funds abroad, but “as long as the person concerned doesn’t cause anyone in authority any grief, there is a kind of tacit understanding by the authorities regarding offshore internet activity,” the executive explained.
Malaysians who are able to do so commonly gamble on horse races, football matches and other sporting events by placing their bets through international betting agencies based in the UK and other places. There is no specific ban on this activity.
The website sportsbettingonline claims that “there’s a big push in Malaysia to legalise football betting for the simple reason that approximately 1 billion ringgit ($286 million) is wagered by Malaysians each and every day on football matches.”
In common with many other sites offering advice about how to gamble online while living in Malaysia, the site recommends Dafabet, Bodog88, Bet365, 188Bet and Comeon, as sites that will accept bets in Malaysian currency. It also recommends entropay, a virtual Visa card as being easy and cheap to use to place bets.

Others without offshore accounts use the hundreds of bookies and gambling dens (often disguised as cafes) run by criminal gangs. This is clearly illegal under Malaysian law. Police conduct raids from time to time and turf wars between gangs can erupt suddenly.
In one recent incident in October there was a grenade attack against notorious gambling kingpin, Ah Hai, which injured 12 people but not Ah Hai himself. Allegedly the motive for the attack was his aggressive expansion into territories controlled by rival gangs, particularly by taking over their agents who bring customers to the gaming parlors.
In other incidents, media aligned with the ruling party in government have attacked the Inspector General of Police and local police chiefs for their failure to eliminate gambling within the country. These are seen as politically motivated and intended to show that the government is vigilant and mindful of public opinion and Muslim law which bans gambling by Muslims.
The Malaysian government has publically stated that it would toughen its stance and policing of illegal gambling. In 2014 police forces conducted many raids against illegal gambling centres throughout Malaysia.
In October, the Home Affairs Minister Ahmad Zahid told Parliament that “197,477 units of computers worth about RM197 million ($59 million) were seized in police raids between 2013 to August this year,” with nearly 4,300 people charged with various offences.
The Minister announced that a special police squad of 200 officers is to conduct raids and searches at suspect premises nationwide from December.
Initially there was a fear that the government might be serious about stopping gambling through the internet when the Attorney General Gani Patail told reporters; “the current laws cover gambling, but not virtual gambling. The problem is that many illegal gambling activities are done online. We need to have a new set of laws or amend the old laws,”
Recently Singapore has introduced a far-reaching ban on online gambling. The Singaporean Act makes the entire spectrum of remote gambling activities illegal and covers operators, agents, brokers, service providers, advertising networks, payment processors, financial institutions, ISPs as well as players.
However after the Attorney General’s statement subsequent discussion in Malaysian media has been about illegal gambling dens within the country, and there has been no mention of banning or restricting internet gambling by those able to do so through offshore accounts.
This is not explicitly against the law as it stands, and little is done to stop access to online betting sites or to restrict the transfer of funds from Malaysia to internet betting accounts, or to monitor transfers from a citizen’s bank accounts in Malaysia to that person’s offshore accounts.
AGB wanted to ask police if it was intended that the Attorney General’s review (and a review by the Home Affairs Minister announced earlier) would lead to similar legislation as that enacted in Singapore.
However Malaysia police declined to be interviewed for this report despite repeated requests. Requests for written questions to be answered were also ignored.
“It is absurdly easy to gamble offshore, and I don’t believe that the government is serious about stopping it,” the gambling company executive said.
In Malaysia, illegal gambling is largely in the hands of organized criminal gangs which many suspect have a cosy relationship with local police.
The gangs keep the streets crime free in certain areas in return for being allowed to operate brothels, and gambling dens.
One source pointed to Jalan Haji Taib square in central Kuala Lumpur where brothels flourished, street girls operated openly in sight of the police station and a party office of the Malay Chinese Association, one of the pillars of the governing coalition.
“Police tolerate it because (the square) is controlled by crime syndicates and is quite safe for tourists and visitors because no crime is allowed to occur there. It’s bad for business,” a representative of a government linked think tank said.
The international anti-corruption agency, Transparency International – Malaysia, says that in the research done for the Malaysia Corruption Barometer 2013 police and political institutions were perceived as the most corrupt institutions in the country.
The commentator with close government links interviewed by AGB said betting is a massive industry, mostly through the national lottery and numbers forecasting (which are legal and government run). There are signs in all the shops selling tickets that it is illegal for Muslims to gamble.
Berjaya Sports Toto Berhad , a Malaysian listed company that offers sports betting and numbers forecasting under a government license reported profits of 329 Million ringgit ($94million) on total revenue of 4,341 million ringitt ($1,242 million).
“Many Muslims do take part, but gambling is really targeted at the non-Muslim communities. The government, as always, is the biggest hypocrite in this case. They say they don't want to promote gambling because it is "sinful" but they happily tax it to grab big money from the industry.”
 

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