All bets are off

IT is a well known fact that punters in Malaysia are being deprived of their trips to betting shops. All bets are off, including the country’s only physical casino in Genting Highlands.

No wonder one theory is that many of these individuals have turned to the stock market to try their luck, pushing up daily trading volumes.

One significant fact that remains: with no number forecast operators (NFOS) doing any draws and with the casino closed, the government is also losing out a lot in tax collections from this sector.

Meanwhile, the world over, industries are moving quickly from offline into the online space. What would have taken a process of a few years is now happening over months. But Malaysia’s legalised NFO operators and its casino have not gone online all these years.

The reason is because the regulation does not allow them to do so. It is the illegal operators who have gone online over the years taking advantage of the situation.

They have robbed the legitimate players of business and the government, of valuable tax receipts.

It is high time that the government facilitate NFO players to go online. In order to ensure that the platform is well managed and that there is no leakage of taxes to be paid to the government, perhaps the government ought to let an independent third party run this platform.

The party will ensure that the government’s best interest is taken care of when draws go online. There will also need to be a thorough know your customer (KYC) system in place and the party running the platform must be one who has the necessary track record for running a digital business. It ought to be one which also has been licensed by the central bank in carrying out an activity in the financial space. This ensures that governance and reporting levels are not compromised.