BY: CHRISTOPHER FERNANDEZ

Every year billions of ringgit is lost in revenue by the Malaysian government to the underworld vice-kingpins who operate online and other illegal gambling activities. This is a major issue now and the government has no other alternative than to legalize all forms of gambling.

The approach of the government in tackling this issue at present is wrong and has been proven to be ineffective. By policing and arresting those who gamble illegally and sending them to jail or making them pay a fine it has not deterred or discouraged these gamblers.

This is because of the large dimension of the psychological factor or the pull and allurement of gambling. Most of the people involved in illegal and even legal gambling in the country are problem gamblers.

Moreover, there are cases of cheating and manipulation of the outcome of these games of chance and gamblers have no way to voice their complaint of being cheated by the illegal gaming operator because of the mere fact they are participating in an illegal activity.

This is why for everyone’s sake the government must legalize, monitor and regulate all forms of gambling as a form of entertainment and collect the gaming tax that is being lost to the underworld criminals.

The government must ensure that all gamblers play responsibly like in Singapore. All gamblers must be subject to a Responsible Gaming Plan to ensure that there are no social ills that arise from gambling.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher