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A Malaysian appeals court has confirmed that online gambling is illegal under the nation’s 70-year-old gambling law, amid cautious legislative action to regulate the industry.
The Court of Appeal on Wednesday (October 18) dismissed appeals against the conviction of online gambling den operator Roseaini Johor and one of her customers, Rashid Mahmud, a retired policeman.
Rashid had been found guilty of playing online roulette in 2017 at a condominium managed by Roseaini in the city of Melaka (Malacca). The gambling den allegedly hosted at least eight customers at the time, triggering the “common gaming house” prohibition of the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953.
The unanimous three-justice bench rejected defence arguments that gaming machines other than internet-linked computers should be present on site for a gambling offence to be committed by the operator or by the gambler.
The Court of Appeal ruling follows the arrests of 1,871 people nationwide over a two-week period ending October 5 on suspicion of online gambling and lottery betting offences.
Periodic high-volume arrests and listco filings of Malaysian market penetration point to a vast, grey online gambling market in Malaysia that may formally be considered illegal after the failure of the appeals.
Still, the Malaysian government has indicated for more than three years that it is considering regulation of the online gambling space for non-Muslim citizens and residents. But legislative progress has been slow.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in May this year said the government is reviewing four laws covering gambling activity with a view to modernising and possibly legalising the sector.
In this most recent case, justice Vazeer Alam Bin Mydin Meera said the act of gambling, not the means of gambling, determined the offence, the state-run Bernama news agency reported.
“We also agree with the findings of the High Court judge, where he provided a detailed explanation of the definition of a common gaming house and gambling machines,” he said.
“The judge concluded that there is no requirement in the law for the equipment to exist physically on the premises.”
The full text of the court’s judgment was not immediately available.
The court sentenced Roseaini to four months and three weeks in jail, down from a five-month sentence issued by the Melaka Magistrates Court in 2020.
Rashid’s initial sentence of one month in prison had been cancelled earlier by the Melaka High Court.
