Malaysia: 25,643 arrested for illegal gambling in first 10 months of 2021

Since the beginning of this year, police in Malaysia have arrested 25,643 people in 17,382 raids related to illegal gambling operations.

Malaysia.- Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan, director of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department, has said that police conducted a total of 17,382 raids involving 25,643 arrests between January and the end of October. Police have seized more than RM$8m in cash and over 18,000 computers, mobile phones and laptops.

Hassan said the most common illegal activity was public lottery houses operating without licences. A total of 5,561 raids were carried out related to this activity. Meanwhile, 6,321 raids were related to online gambling, 535 to betting, 407 to indoor gambling, 294 to outdoor gambling and 264 targetted illegal call centres.

In 2020, police conducted 15,958 raids and 26,656 people were arrested. Again, raids related to public lotteries without a licence were the most frequent, with 8,324 in 12 months.

Hassan said there was an increase in online gambling activities due to the easy availability of Internet on mobile devices and due to the Covid-19 pandemic.