Malaysia Wants To End Illegal Online Gambling

Several government authorities started monitoring online casinos in Malaysia in Sabah and Sarawak states. The regulating bodies are set to stop internet gaming for real money in the two largest Malaysian states on the Borneo island.

Malaysian Home Ministry Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein informed that Malaysian gambling lawauthorities are determined to stop online gambling activities before the situation worsens.

Malaysian law enforcement have developed bilateral relationships with similar agencies in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Hishammuddin emphasized: "The collaboration is not only to address syndicates operating in our country but also those in the region and internationally. If this is not done, gambling premises raided today will operate again tomorrow.”

Although land gambling is actually legal in most forms is throughout Malaysia, the local Muslim population is not allowed to gamble because of religious reasons. Only one casino, the Casino Genting in the Genting Highlands of Pahang, operates in Malaysia.

The single Malaysian casino offers table games, roulette, slot machines. Horse racing is the only form of Malaysian sports betting that is not banned. There used to be gambling arcades in the country offering machine games and electronic horse racing, but they were banned in 2000 by government for “representing danger” for the country's youth.

Online gambling in Malaysia is prohibited. There are no available licenses to open online gambling sites. Some Malays gamble on foreign servers, although the government tries to prohibit gambling money transfers.