Online gambling has been increasing in popularity over the past few years in Malaysia, especially during and after the pandemic. Despite the then Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s promise to table amendments to the Common Gaming Houses Act 1953 (“CGHA“) in 2017, the then Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement in Dewan Rakyat back in 2019 that the government intends to amend gambling laws to include provisions which deal with online gambling, and the government’s abhorrence of online gambling, to date, the status of online gambling remains a grey area in Malaysia. Laws such as the CGHA and the Betting Act 1953 have not caught up with the times and have not been updated to include express provisions to define and regulate online gambling in Malaysia.
The recent High Court decision in Public Prosecutor v Multi Electrical Supply & Services & 105 Others appears to suggest that online gambling is not illegal in Malaysia, due to the absence of express provisions or laws regulating online gambling in Malaysia. The Court refused to read into a relevant provision of the CGHA anything which would suggest that it can be used to establish the offence of online gambling. The Court further stated that it is not the duty of the court to fill in the blanks in the law when the legislators have yet to rise to the task.
The case highlights the need for the CGHA and other relevant laws to be reviewed and revised to keep up with the times and to close the loopholes.
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