Malaysia officialises gaming crackdown

As the government announced this year, the illegal gaming operators will face a major crackdown on their land-based and online platforms.

Malaysia.- The Malaysian government has accomplished its plan of cracking down the unauthorised gaming platforms both in land-based betting centres and online casino sites. According to the national press, the fight has been set against illegal operators of the iGaming sector and the 4D (four-digit) public lotteries.

“Twenty raids were against illegal 4D operations. These raids were conducted by CID (Criminal Investigation Department) teams from the state headquarters and districts,” commented the national CID of the Royal Malaysian Police chief SAC, Dato Dev Kumar, to the local newspapers. The 25 operations were held last week.

Under the raids, the police arrested 39 seeming perpetrators and confiscated US$ 2,427. “Mobile phones, portable printers, calculators and stationery items were also seized,” Dato Dev Kumar detailed. During this week, the CID will be carrying out further investigations and crackdowns on reported platforms and venues that offer unauthorised gaming services.

The plan is part of a bigger framework against casino, lottery and sports betting operations, which has been announced in February. The government is considering the creation of a new national entity to specifically control and regulate the gaming industry. The measure was announced last month by the Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who also revealed the beginning of major crackdowns on reported platforms.

The casino industry has also been part of a national investigation of economic trades in the foreign-currency market. The Malaysian central bank will publish this week the details of operators who have been found guilty of financial irregularities.