Judi sukan dibenarkan semula?

Adakah judi sukan akan dibenarkan di negara ini? Persoalan itu timbul lagi apabila jawapan daripada perdana menteri yang juga menteri kewangan Datuk Seri Najib Razak menimbulkan pelbagai andaian.

Menjawap soalan Datuk Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), Najib berkata kerajaan masih belum memberikan sebarang lesen bagi perkhidmatan pertaruhan yang berkaitan dengan Piala Dunia Fifa 2010.

'Kerajaan akan menawarkan lesen kepada Ascot Sports Sdn Bhd untuk perkhidmatan pertaruhan (tidak termasuk Piala dunia 2010) kerana syarikat ini telah diberikan kelulusan sebelum ini untuk menjalankan aktiviti itu,” kata Najib.

Sarawak breaks ranks by saying no to gambling

By FMT Staff

KUCHING: Sarawak became the first Barisan Nasional state to declare its disapproval of the federal government’s move to legalise sports betting.

Chief Minister Taib Mahmud said there will be no new gaming outlets approved.

“We will not tempt or encourage people into gambling. Our focus now is to help them increase their income. We will allow the existing gaming outlets but there will be no new ones,” he said yesterday.

Taib was referring to the Finance Ministry’s decision to award Berjaya Corporation Group a licence to carry out sports betting activities.

The legalising of sports betting during the coming World Cup is expected to earn the government RM60 billion in tax revenue.

Sarawak is the third state to disallow new betting operations. Pakatan Rakyat-led Penang and Selangor have also barred the activity, using local government regulations.

Last week, two members of Taib’s cabinet had broken ranks when they openly said that gambling was wrong and detrimental to the society’s wellbeing.

Speaking to reporters after officiating at the Borneo International Conference on Language and Literature  2010 conference here, Taib said gambling had been semi-prohibited for a long time.

“We amended the laws relating to gambling 15 years ago so as not to allow new outlets to be set up.

“We do not want to encourage poverty and debts. It is sad to see families suffer as a result of addiction to gambling.

“If the state allowed gambling, it will cause more suffering not only to the gamblers but their families too,” he said.

No to telelinks, casino

To a question on Internet-based "telelink" outlets being used as betting stations, Taib said it was illegal but admitted that it was difficult to control such operations.

Sarawak has numerous shoplets known as telelinks or Number Forecast Totalisator (NFT) outlets, across the state. A majority of them, however, are illegal operations.
The regulator for NFT nationwide is Lembaga Totalisator Malaysia (LTM).

Since late last year, the state government and police have come down hard on operators using various ordinances under the Local Authorities Act to force them to shut down. Despite the efforts to contain telelinks, they continue to mushroom.

“We have directed the police to shut down these outlets, but you know Internet is difficult to control,” said Taib.

“We have also informed the federal government about such operations. We’ve told them that we don’t want to see telelink gambling in Sarawak.”

Berjaya Group had earlier this month said punters could pick up bets at retail outlets, online or via the telephone.

On rumours that a casino was scheduled for Sarawak, Taib said: “It’s a wild dream… as it is, we are not able to control crime as much as we like. With a casino, we will be encouraging bad elements and more crime and our people will be worse off.”

Hishammuddin: the betting licence was approved a long time ago

(Bernama) - Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein urged state governments to stop speculation and work with the Home Ministry to tackle the football betting issue.

"Rather than making noise from the outside, state governments can offer their suggestions and ideas to overcome this black economy.

"The betting licence was approved a long time ago but it was made to look like it was only recently approved."

Vincent Tan, let us debate the issue

"By legalising sports betting... the government could earn annual revenue of up to RM3 billion ringgit through taxes," Vincent Tan said. "Why are some politicians so against this?" Maybe they are against it because they know the profits will help finance the massacre of Pakatan Rakyat in the next general election.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin

This is what Tulang Besi wrote:

Who is Vincent Tan trying to fool? He’s offering RM525m for charity (what a paradox). Yet, studies have found that the potential for sports gambling is in the billions PER DAY.

Allow me to cite from an article writes by Kang Siew Li:

‘In a report dated May 26, 2006, Mayban Securities had estimated that the value of daily legal gaming was RM850 million, with illegal gambling estimated at around the same amount. This gives the total size of estimated daily gambling in Malaysia at around RM1.7 billion.

"Assuming that this amount is doubled during the World Cup month, there may be an additional RM1.7 billion being gambled daily," the report had said.’

That would mean Vincent could make at least RM500 million PER DAY during the World Cup. After the World Cup, there’s the English Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup and many more prestigious football competitions throughout Europe.

I expect Vincent Tan will recoup the RM525 million he plans to donate to a charity body he owns in a blink of an eye. It’s only a day’s worth of business, Vincent.

How Vincent Tan became the Gaming King of Malaysia

Vincent Tan can deny it all he wants. The bottom line is he is the front man for Umno. He is Umno’s nominee. He owns only part of his gambling empire. The rest is owned by Umno but held by him as trustee.