Malaysian government unveils new weapon against illegal gambling

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has unleashed a new weapon in its fight against illegal gambling, directing telecommunication companies to terminate more than 8,000 telephone numbers for spreading Short Messaging Services (SMS) for gambling purposes.

The Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Jailani Johari said MCMC had received 416 complaints from the public regarding gambling-based SMS in the last year.

“The MCMC has filed a complaint data, identifying telephone numbers to be barred and has requested further investigation by the police,” he said in response to a question from Senator Datuk Zali Mat Yasin.

Jailani said among the additional measures taken to curb the growth of online gambling websites was the implementation of restricted access to websites that offered gambling-based services.

“From 2012 until March 2016, a total of 664 websites have been restricted in their access by MCMC, based on written requests from the police for the offence under the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953,” he said.

The Deputy Minister said that in addition to close collaboration with the police, the MCMC worked with other organisations in pursuing the eradication of illegal online gambling, citing the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC), Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and the Bank Negara.

He said that in 2014, MCMC blocked 2,268 sites; with 538 of them at the request of law enforcement, while 1,730 websites were blocked based on the provisions of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Last year, a total of 2,203 websites were blocked, with 631 blocked at the request of agencies such as the police, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCC) and Jakim, whereas 1,572 were barred under the provisions of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Jailani said that the blocking of web pages would be the final resort taken by the MCMC authorities in addressing online gambling