Archaic gambling laws being reviewed, says Deputy Home Minister
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KUALA LUMPUR: Archaic laws on gambling are being reviewed to tackle rising online gambling activities, says Datuk Seri Ismail Mohamed Said.
"We are looking at the laws related to gambling to ensure that they remain relevant with regard to the modus operandi used, especially for online gambling.
"In this respect, the Home Ministry is working with the Finance Ministry to see if the laws should be amended to ensure that they are relevant to current times," the Deputy Home Minister said when replying to a question raised by Noorita Dual (PH-Tenom) in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Nov 8).
Noorita wanted to know what was being done to tackle online gambling especially those involving children and youths below 18 years old.
"How about online gambling through mobile phones, as even my children's mobile phones are flooded with such activities?" she asked.
Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim (BN-Baling) also raised similar issue, saying that online gambling via mobile phones was rampant among youths in the rural areas.
"They (youths) don't need to go on to a premises to gamble.
"Now they gamble in the plantations using their mobile phones," he said when raising a supplementary question.
He also claimed that gambling activities were also happening at sundry shops in the rural areas.
At present, Ismail Mohamed said that illegal gambling activities are being tackled through laws such as the Common Gaming Houses Act 1957 and Betting Act 1953.
He said that illegal online gambling activities could also be dealt with though the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001 (Amla) and Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca)
Apart from these laws, he said the authorities would also work with the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to block online gambling sites.
Earlier, Ismail Mohamed informed the House that over 7,000 individuals were charged in court for illegal gambling activities over the last three years.
He said that 2,294 individuals were charged in 2019, 2,911 in 2020 and 2,165 last year.
