Malaysian police hit five cyber cafes for illegal gambling

Malaysian police were active in the Tangkak area last month, reporting raids on five cyber cafes that were providing illegal online gambling for customers.

Police Chief Supt Harun Idris said that the police operation took place over a three day period, during which 170 computers and a large amount of cash and other evidence had been seized.

“We noted that the operators had used special computer chips to change their video games into gambling games,” the police spokesman said. “However, we managed to detect their activities and detained the operators.”

In related news, a Malaysian problem gambler counsellor claims that gamblers – and in some cases bookies – were getting younger, a development that he claimed was linked to the availability of gambling around the world on the internet.

David Chiang, president of the Gamblers Rehab Centre Malaysia, told The Star newspaper that younger punters were a worrying trend, with some already becoming problem gamblers at age 15.

Chiang urged parents to be vigilant on internet and credit card use, as underage youths can deceive their parents into believing they were conducting research over the Internet when they were actually gambling online.

“Parents too easily believe them because the Internet is such a huge part of the lifestyle of youth today,” he said.

Another new threat was the rise of online credit card brokers, who provided their credit cards to under-aged gamblers to use….for a fee.

“If the teenage gambler loses the credit, the broker would then pay the online casino first with a credit card. The teenager has to repay the broker in cash,” he said, adding that besides betting on games like roulette and poker, young gamblers were also fond of sports betting, especially football.

He said many young people resorted to gambling because they wanted a fast way to get money to buy better smartphones, tablets, computers and branded goods.

Related and similar